Western Bulldogs ruckman Tim English has been taken out of his side's must-win clash against West Coast this Sunday with back issues.
English was sore throughout the week and failed to do enough to convince the club's medical staff that he was right to suit up for the Round 18 match.
The Dogs have made six changes to their starting 23 with English, Lachie McNeil and Connor Budarick, Nick Coffield, Will Lewis and Ryley Sanders being replaced by Jedd Busslinger, Rhylee West, Sam Davidson, Josh Dolan, Bailey Williams and Luke Cleary.
The decision to remove English from the line up comes after his coach Luke Beveridge revealed during the week that the All-Australian ruck was playing under an injury cloud last weekend against Sydney.
“(English) declared himself fit last week, so we picked him and it probably didn't turn out the way we thought it would," Beveridge said during the week.
“The players obviously want to play every week. Our medical staff are really conservative and they know what I'm like. I just don't want players to play if it's any more than just a bit of discomfort.
“In hindsight, he maybe wasn't totally ready to play last week. That's unfortunate because that's costly.
“I think it probably just stood out a bit because of the position, the ruck spot and what it entails."
Utility Rory Lobb will be expected to shoulder most of the ruck work in English's absence.
During the Bulldogs' disappointing 35-point loss to the Swans, English was moved from his usual ruck role to play as a key defender.
Beveridge explained the strange decision to move English into an unfamiliar role.
“Ultimately, with him going and playing down back, we'd actually done a bit of that during pre-season, but we'd lost Connor Budarick just before half-time and Charlie Curnow was on track to kick a serious bag," he said.
“It felt like we needed some height in our defence and 'Lobby' was holding up alright in the ruck after we had really found it hard in parts of the first quarter in particular.
“It just made sense. Tim went okay down there, he defended reasonably well. It's not something that you'd want to replicate.
“At his best, Tim can be a formidable ruckman and stabilise that stoppage and midfield group.
“I've got every thought in my head that he's going to be able to move towards being influential again.”
