THE RUNNING defenders’ injury "curse" at the Western Bulldogs is likely to see Matt Suckling spend the next four weeks on the sidelines after an ankle complaint he sustained against the Brisbane Lions proved worse than first thought. 

Midfielder Caleb Daniel will also miss Friday night's top of the table clash with North Melbourne with a calf injury.  

Suckling fell awkwardly in a marking contest and will join fellow defensive playmakers Robert Murphy and Jason Johannisen in rehab as Luke Beveridge again has to reshape his backline.

"We think (he'll miss) about a month, (I) don't think it will be less than that, it could be a little bit more," Beveridge said on Tuesday afternoon. 

"His knee is fine, the ankle not so good, but the great thing is that we'll get him back."

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"Last year we lost some midfielders and our boys really covered that, but this year it's our high defenders that have got the curse.

"We've got choices to make around whether we bring a defender in for 'Suckers' or we go with an inside or outside mid in that half-back role."

One player who won't be considered to fill the void is talented second-year utility Lukas Webb, with Beveridge revealing the 20-year-old needed to "grow his game" and "scale up his performances" in the VFL.

Another issue facing Beveridge is the Kangaroos' three key forwards who caused him some headaches in round 22 last year.

Drew Petrie, Jarrad Waite and Ben Brown combined for 11 contested marks, although the Dogs ended up running out 23-point winners in that game.

First-year key defender Kieran Collins may be handed a baptism of fire, with the coach declaring last weekend's emergency isn't "far away" from a debut.

"If we pick a tall defender, (Collins) will be in the mix for selection and we've got Fletcher Roberts who's been playing pretty well, Joel Hamling can go back and Zayne Cordy is almost ready to go," he said.

"They took a lot of contested marks against us last time, so we aim to be a little bit better in defending those long balls.

"We defended pretty well in the defensive 50 last time, it was just up between the arcs that they got us.

"They are significant threats those big boys, but we'll back our crew to get it done."

Beveridge believes a lack of polish has contributed to his side's ordinary conversation rate inside 50 in recent weeks.

The Bulldogs have squandered numerous scoring opportunities in the past fortnight, with 71 entries against the Lions netting just 17.18.

50 entries in the round four win over Carlton resulted in only 13.7. 

"The great thing is our players are creating so many opportunities, but just that sheen of quality went missing with those connections," Beveridge said.

"There's a lot of messy ball going in there (and) our midfield are winning a lot of clearances and some of them are under pressure. 

"Making something out of nothing is also one of our challenges and week-to-week we aim to that better.

"Hopefully we get it a little more right against the Kangaroos."