Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge admits he's at a loss to explain the club's persistent injury woes as they prepare to face Gold Coast without skipper Easton Wood.
Wood will miss Saturday's game in Ballarat with a low-grade hamstring strain, joining Tom Liberatore, Dale Morris, Marcus Adams and Jack Redpath on an injury list that's been stacked for much of Beveridge's four-year tenure.
The Bulldogs are hopeful Wood will return in a fortnight's time.
Nineteen-year-old Lewis Young has been named as his replacement, while Marcus Bontempelli will step in as captain for the youthful Bulldogs.
Beveridge has had to contend with a host of serious injuries every season since taking over in 2015, including the 2016 premiership year.
"We think about it often and we continually review and reflect," Beveridge said on Friday.
"We definitely don't push the boundaries as far as what we put them through on the training track. We're quite conservative during the year at times ... there's no alarm bells there for us.
"There's no doubt we've had some bad luck (with) some collision and joint injuries ... our soft-tissue stuff has been pretty good.
"I think we've had a bit of bad luck. Hopefully that turns."
Beveridge said off-season recruit Jackson Trengove would continue to press for selection in the VFL, adding that he would be more likely to play as a ruck-forward than a key defender.
Premiership ruckman Jordan Roughead will miss another week as he continutes to recover from a minor hamstring issue.
The 15th-placed Bulldogs' form has fluctuated wildly, with heavy losses to Greater Western Sydney, West Coast and Fremantle balanced by solid wins over Essendon and Carlton and a competitive seven-point defeat against Sydney.
Beveridge said he wouldn't use injuries or inexperience as an excuse for underperforming.
"It has an effect, there's no doubt, but you don't lose a player in totality and not gain one," he said.
"You might lose a percentage or a margin in performance but it shouldn't be enough, as far as I'm concerned, to influence an outcome one way or the other if you've got your systems right."
Buoyed by last week's 21-point victory over Carlton, the Bulldogs face a Gold Coast outfit missing several stars.
The Suns have lost co-captains Tom Lynch (knee) and Steven May (finger), as well as Jesse Lonergan (knee) and Brayden Fiorini (leg), while veteran Michael Barlow has been omitted.
Charlie Ballard and Brayden Crossley will make their senior debuts and Callum Ah Chee, Michael Rischitelli and Brad Scheer return.
