The Western Bulldogs are set for a major overhaul in the wake of the club's humiliating 101-point loss to Geelong, with senior coach Rodney Eade forecasting up to six changes for this weekend's engagement with Sydney at the SCG.
Eade confirmed that Brownlow Medalist Adam Cooney and the club's No.1 ruckman Ben Hudson, both of whom missed the Cats debacle because of influenza would play, along with Jarrad Grant and Jarrod Harbrow who has been sidelined for the past three weeks by a combination of illness and injury.
Also set to return is hard-working forward Mitch Hahn almost two months after he tore a hamstring against Hawthorn in Round 14.
Replacements need to be found for injured pair Shaun Higgins (calf tear) and Easton Wood (hamstring) and, potentially, star defender Brian Lake who failed to train on Wednesday.
"Brian's got a bit of a hip so he's probably only 50-50 at this stage," Eade said.
"He hurt it in the warm-up on Saturday night and obviously struggled through the game so we're not too sure if he'll be playing."
"We'll (make a call) on Friday night, maybe Saturday."
"We've got some decisions to make so there's obviously still a bit on conjecture about who will miss."
Key forward Barry Hall played a peripheral role at training because of the after-effects of flu but, according to Eade, would be right to take on his former team-mates on Saturday.
Eade said he ordered a fairly willing training session on Wednesday for several reasons.
"I think it's maybe a bit of cleansing the soul a bit from the weekend, but I think it's more about who we're playing this week and the style of game there's going to be this week," he said.
"On a small ground there's going to be a lot of stoppages and a lot of contested work so we need to ramp that up again."
Asked whether his players had suffered any mental scarring from their mauling by the Cats, Eade said: "We've proven the last three years especially that we're a fairly resilient group."
"It was so unlike us, it's not like it's every eight weeks that something like that happens."
"We obviously ran into a red-hot side and didn't fulfil our end of the bargain but I think we'll bounce back pretty well."
Eade dismissed criticisms of skipper Brad Johnson by media commentator and former Bulldog Jason Akermanis as "uneducated".
Akermanis believes Johnson's form doesn't warrant selection, but Eade said the facts suggest otherwise.
"In the six-week period from Round 14 to 19 ... Brad was No.1 in the competition for score assists, No.4 in the competition for marks, seventh in the competition for marks on the lead," Eade said.
"He's averaging 19 disposals, eight marks, four inside-50s, three goal-assists a game at 80 percent efficiency with his disposals - they're enormous stats."
"I think the media haven't seen how well Brad Johnson's been playing and the stats back up what we know, that he's been in very good form."
"There's no doubt our form turnaround has been mainly due to him."
"People can see what the reason is (for Akermanis' criticism) so we just move on."