EMERGING midfield star Marcus Bontempelli will line up for the Western Bulldogs against Hawthorn on Sunday, while veteran Matthew Boyd has been withdrawn with soreness. 

Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge confirmed Bontempelli would play in Launceston, despite experiencing leg soreness during the week. 

"Yes he'll play," Beveridge told reporters at Melbourne Airport on Saturday.

Bulldogs lock down in-form defender

"We just had a couple of boys come out of last week with general soreness so we lightened their week and [Bontempelli] is on track to play on Sunday.

"It’s a long season and we need to look out for the signs. If he was in any doubt, we wouldn’t play him."

Boyd was withdrawn from the Bulldogs side on Saturday morning after failing to recover in time.

Koby Stevens comes into the side as his replacement, while small forward Nathan Hrovat has also flown with the team as an emergency.

"We thought [Boyd] was going to come up as well, but we made the decision today to be smart about it and not second guess ourselves, and forge ahead with Koby in the side," Beveridge said.

The Bulldogs are 2-0 heading into the game against a Hawthorn side Beveridge knows all too well.

The former assistant coach admits he has shared intimate knowledge of Hawthorn's game plan with his team, but said he is wary of focusing too much on the opposition.

"It can be a disadvantage if I talk too much about it with the players," Beveridge said.

"It’s important we do focus on ourselves. Obviously the Hawks have become the benchmark of the competition. They’ll face what they did against the Bombers week-in, week-out where the opposition sides are looking to measure themselves against them, and we’re no different. 

"But they’ve changed again - last week we saw [Ben] McEvoy go back and do one or two things differently. They’re always evolving and trying to stay ahead of the game and that’s why they’ve been such a unique and strong outfit over a long period of time."