Stefan Martin's ongoing injury issues have left the Western Bulldogs feeling vulnerable in the ruck as Tim English braces for a key battle with West Coast match-winner Nic Naitanui.
Recruited from Brisbane to support English, Martin played six of the first seven games this season but has managed just one appearance in the last two months.
The 34-year-old hurt his shoulder on return from an achilles injury in round 12 and is now troubled by a groin complaint that flared up at training and will keep him sidelined for multiple weeks.
The Bulldogs opted against recalling five-gamer Jordon Sweet to assist English, who will shoulder the vast majority of the ruck load against Naitanui at Optus Stadium on Sunday.
"Seeing what Max Gawn did to us against Melbourne in there with young Sweety, who's still learning the caper, we've got to make good decisions around that position at selection and see where we can get an advantage elsewhere," Dogs coach Luke Beveridge said.
"So unfortunately we're probably where we were, in a sense, last year with all that at the moment.
"It's not ideal but we've just got to tackle it.
"We're big boys and strategically it'll be an interesting side aspect of the game (against West Coast)."
Naitanui played a huge role in West Coast's important win over Richmond before the bye - racking up 31 hit-outs, 20 disposals, five clearances and a goal - and looms as a huge threat to the Bulldogs at stoppages.
"We've just got to be smart about it from a coaching point of view," Beveridge said.
"You don't concede, but you understand where the vulnerability might be.
"We've watched him tear apart other really experienced ruckmen and so you'd expect that Nic will have a big influence on the game at the stoppage."
Naitanui played 72 per cent of game time against Richmond - up from a season average of 67 per cent - and was a key contributor in the final quarter as the Eagles kicked four late goals to snatch a thrilling four-point win.
"I thought he finished off his game as well as he has all year against Richmond and he played more game time in that last quarter than perhaps what we've seen," Beveridge said.
"So we understand what we're coming up against and we'll need to organise ourselves and be ready for the stoppage aspect.
"Then away from that we've got to work out where we can get advantages and how we can support Tim in the ruck."
Josh Bruce, Alex Keath and Mitch Hannan all did small amounts of ruck work to help English in the Bulldogs' after-the-siren loss to Geelong last week.
Key forward Aaron Naughton has been cleared of major rib damage after a collision with Jed Bews during that match and will play against West Coast.
A win would see the second-placed Dogs further entrench themselves in the top-four as the finals race heats up.
