Big Dog in line to face Pies in AFL opener

Mar 20, 2017 - 8:46 AM The Western Bulldogs have lost another ruckman to injury, but the reigning premiers regained Tom Campbell in time for their AFL season opener against Collingwood.

Untried 19-year-old draftee Tim English was in line for a surprise debut in round one as the Dogs dealt with injuries to ruckmen Jordan Roughead and Campbell.

But in a reversal of fortunes for the pair, English will be unavailable with shin soreness while Campbell has thrown off an ankle injury sustained in an intra-club match last month.

"Tom's completed the final stages of his rehabilitation following his ankle injury," Bulldogs medical manager Chris Bell said.

"He's resumed full training and will be available this week."

Coach Luke Beveridge will still have a difficult decision to make given Campbell's lack of match fitness, having failed to feature in the pre-season series.

Campbell was unable to break back into the AFL side after he missed five matches with a foot injury late last season and was an emergency for the grand final team.

English reported bone soreness in his lower leg after a recent VFL hitout. The 205cm Western Australian will be put on a restricted training program and assessed over the next week.

The Dogs will take a conservative approach with the talented junior they selected 19th overall at last year's draft.

Roughead underwent surgery to repair hamstring tendon damage sustained in a pre-season clash with Melbourne in February.

The premiership ruckman was expected to miss up to a month of the AFL season, but Bell revealed the club is yet to put a time frame on his return despite strong progress through his rehabilitation program.

"He started running on (Monday) and he'll be systematically progressed over the next couple of weeks," Bell told the club's website.

"(Then) we can be more accurate with his return to play timeline in the next few weeks."

Veteran defender Matthew Boyd has been cleared to play against the Pies at the MCG on Friday night after recovering from a severely lacerated ear sustained against Gold Coast.

Source: AAP