WESTERN Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says he was merely clumsy and just plain unlucky to break his hand while giving a half-time rev-up against Sydney.

Beveridge hit a whiteboard to illustrate a point in the SCG rooms during the main break of the Bulldogs' shattering two-point away defeat to the Swans last Thursday night.

The 2016 premiership coach required surgery on his left hand this week but has not missed any work at the club because of the injury.

"Sometimes you need the coach to be a little bit animated, and it was just purely an accident, more than anything," Beveridge said at the Whitten Oval on Thursday.

"If you're worried about me emotionally, no need. I'm totally in control.

"We came in at half-time with some uncertainty around how many boys were going to be available in that second half.

"I was just a bit unlucky, the angle, and even the way it happened, because it's unusual.

"We just needed to raise the energy a little bit and it was quite innocuous and a little bit clumsy, but injured it and carried on. It didn't affect me. It's all fixed and business as usual.

"It's a bit trivial, but one day it might be a couple of paragraphs in a chapter of a book."

Beveridge, who kept his hands in his pockets throughout his weekly press conference, asked to move on to other matters when pressed with a fourth question about the incident.

In better news for the club, important but out-of-form midfielder Bailey Smith will return for the vital match against Essendon on Friday night after an illness.

Smith missed the trip to Sydney and has been at the centre of trade speculation, which Beveridge last week described as "disrespectful" and "pungent".

"Bailey's finding his way back to his best form. In the role that he's playing for our team, he has got the capacity to be our best player, week in, week out, and we're going to help him get there," Beveridge said.

"And that's probably why I get a little bit agitated and protective of Bailey because he's been through a fair bit. 

"Even this morning (Thursday), he doesn't have to, but he came up and thanked me for the support that I give him publicly, because I love him, and I want him to be OK."

The clash with the Bombers looms as season-defining. Defeat could drop the Bulldogs from seventh to as low as 12th.

Essendon sits eighth and is coming off a 77-point smashing from reigning premier Geelong last week.