A car crash has sidelined Roarke Smith from the AFL, leaving coach Luke Beveridge only half-joking that the Western Bulldogs might be cursed.
The Friday morning accident left Smith with a cut head and he was ruled out of Sunday's match against Port Adelaide in Ballarat.
Teammate Kieran Collins was in the car with Smith and also went to hospital, but Beveridge said neither player suffered serious injuries.
"They're both fine, but Roarke won't play," Beveridge said.
"They were just turning and another car coming the other way collected them.
"The early prognosis is that they're OK."
While the news is good on the two players, it is the latest setback for the Bulldogs in a season plagued by injuries.
They have won only one of their past nine games.
"There was a 'The Brady Bunch' episode where the kids disturb an ancient burial site in Hawaii and these bad things started happening to them," Beveridge said.
"We might have walked over an indigenous grave or something like that, so we might have to pull in our indigenous brothers and sisters to make sure we cleanse ourselves and everything is OK.
"It's just a little bit more bad luck for the boys this morning.
"Thank God they're OK, because footy becomes secondary when something happens like that."
There is some good news, with Bulldogs star Marcus Bontempelli to return from a fortnight out because of appendicitis.
Mitch Honeychurch is also available after suffering a neck injury on the weekend in a collision with West Coast captain Shannon Hurn.
But Luke Dahlhaus (ankle), Tom Boyd (back) and Billy Gowers (ankle) are all sidelined.
Fergus Greene will be the Bulldogs' fifth AFL debutant this season, while Fletcher Roberts and Patrick Lipinski return along with Bontempelli.
Roberts, a member of the Bulldogs' 2016 premiership team, will play his first senior game since round one.
Port made five changes, dropping Jack Trengove, Lindsay Thomas and Sam Gray.
Dougal Howard (hand) and Karl Amon (knee) are injured while Paddy Ryder and Tom Jonas have recovered and are big inclusions.
Kane Farrell will make his AFL debut and Steve Motlop and Riley Bonner are the other recalls.
