Western Bulldogs defender Liam Jones' hopes of breaking back into the AFL side have taken a hit, with a calf injury sidelining the veteran backman.
Jones, who was demoted to the VFL last week, is set to "be out for a few weeks" with his latest setback, which was sustained at training this week.
The ailment adds to an interrupted season for the 34-year-old, who was sidelined until Round 3 with a hamstring injury suffered in early February.,
Dogs Luke Beveridge named debutant Jedd Busslinger in Jones' place for the Round 7 trip to Canberra, with the latter now facing a longer period out of the senior team.
"He's injured himself at training unfortunately, he's going to be out for a few weeks," Beveridge revealed to the media on Friday.
"At the moment, he'll spend some time out of the game, and we'll prepare him to come back into AFL contention at some point soon."
The Dogs are seeing "encouraging" signs with the recovery of Sam Darcy and his knee injury, with the young star taking his knee brace off and now into strength training.
Beveridge has battled through the early rounds of the season with an extensive injury list, having only had skipper Marcus Bontempelli available for the past fortnight following a pre-season calf injury.
Veteran midfielder Adam Treloar returns this week, while the Dogs still have Cody Weightman (knee) sidelined indefinitely.
Treloar comes into this week's lineup, with first-year pair Cooper Hynes and Josh Dolan making way. Beveridge said his inexperienced contingent has done a stellar job in stepping into senior roles in the absence of their sidelined stars.
"It's been terrific that those lads, and Sammy Davidson on the wing and the one or two others who lack a great deal of experience, have had a bit of a look," Beveridge said.
"That's going to serve us well as the year goes on.ย Sam Darcy and Cody Weightman will hopefully become available later in the year.
"But the team that heads to Ballarat is a strong team... the team's coming together."
Both Hynes and Dolan have been named to play in the VFL, with Nick Coffield (hamstring) and Luke Kennedy (concussion) also named after recovering from respective setbacks.
