Western Bulldogs have pledged not to let injuries derail their AFL season.
The Dogs had eight players on their injury list this week, five of them long-term absentees.
But stand-in skipper Easton Wood says the Dogs, who host West Coast on Sunday, are showing the resilience needed to overcome the injury setbacks.
"Every season you are going to be presented with different challenges," Wood told Fox Footy's AFL 360 on Thursday night.
"You can't be prepared for what they are. You can just deal with them as they come along.
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"And the strength of our group has been how we have dealt with that quite well."
The Dogs added ruckman Will Minson, Mitch Honeychurch and Bailey William to a 25-man squad to host the Eagles, who named Elliot Yeo, Andrew Gaff and Kane Lucas.
Wood said the ability of the Bulldogs to plug the holes, particularly in defence, was credit to the club's VFL program.
"Testament to the work that the guys do in the VFL team," he said.
"And having our own VFL team and being able to teach those boys to play the same way, so when they do come up into the AFL team they don't miss a beat.
"It's not as big a jump as I think it used to be when we didn't have an affiliate side."
