The Western Bulldogs have suffered a selection blow ahead of Saturday night's semi final against the Sydney Swans with Shaun Higgins ruled out for the remainder of the season because of his thyroid condition.
With a host of first-choice stars including Adam Cooney and Dale Morris unavailable because of injury, the club had been hopeful that Higgins, who was diagnosed with thyroiditis several weeks ago, could return to his best in September.
But the 22-year-old's lacklustre effort in last Saturday night's qualifying final loss to Collingwood has convinced coach Rodney Eade to cut his losses.
"Obviously there's still some residual effect," said Eade of Higgins ahead of the Bulldogs' training run at the MCG on Wednesday morning.
"You could see the way he ran at the weekend, he just didn't have that speed or energy."
"They've done another test and his (thyroid levels) have just gone up a little bit so it's best to shelve him."
"He won't be playing (for the year)."
Eade said Ryan Griffen and Brian Harris had pulled up well from the knee and hip injuries they carried into the Magpies clash and would be right to take on the Swans.
Rebounding defender Easton Wood, who has missed three weeks with a torn hamstring, will be selected if he gets through training, though ruckman Jordan Roughead is only an outside chance to return from the shoulder injury he picked up against the Bombers in Round 22.
Eade nominated Brodie Moles, Andrejs Everitt and Josh Hill as being in the selection mix along with diminutive onballer Andrew Hooper who is yet to play a senior match.
"Perhaps the mistake we made was not playing him earlier to give him a couple of games in the home and away season," Eade said.
"It's a big ask to come in in a final but, having said that, he's a competitive little bugger and he's got some speed so they're ingredients which stand him in good stead in a final."
Eade said Morris was progressing well from the neck injury sustained when the Bulldogs last played the Swans up in Sydney only three weeks ago and would be a chance to return 'if we can keep progressing'.
He conceded his team's morale was down immediately after Saturday night's loss but said he's unlikely to talk up the emotion surrounding skipper Brad Johnson's retirement announcement this week in a bid to lift the mood.
"It will be mentioned a little bit, but it won't be the main driver," he said.
"The main driver is to play the way that we've got to be able to play."
"We've obviously let ourselves down the last four weeks."
Eade said he's taken a different approach this week compared to the past two seasons when the Bulldogs rebounded strongly from qualifying finals defeats to win their semis comfortably.
He said there's been more carrot and less stick.
"The previous two years have probably had some solid reinforcement," he said.
"This one is on the back of some poor form for a couple of weeks so I think we've got to try and get the confidence level back."
"We've done some things differently to get them back on the bike, to get them to play the way we know we can play and the way we want to play."