Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge is preparing for a period without half-back Jason Johannisen, with the speedster injuring his right hamstring in Saturday night's win over Calton.

With skipper Bob Murphy to miss the season with a knee injury, the Dogs will look to it's growing depth of young talent to help recast their defence following the loss of fellow playmaker Johannisen.

Young forward Tom Boyd also hurt his right shoulder in a last-quarter ruck contest while Matt Suckling rolled his right ankle in the third term but, returned to play out the match.

Coach Beveridge expects both Boyd and Suckling to be passed fit for next week's clash with the Brisbane Lions at Etihad Stadium, while the Dogs will await scans to determine the extent of Johannisen's injury.

"It's hard to know," Beveridge said when asked about Johannisen's injury.

"It's probably not going to be a two-weeker. We'll obviously have a scan and access the extent of the damage and we'll be conservative with him. He's a valuable member of our group and we'll play the longer game with him.

"We're not too sure if it's the tendon or the belly."

The Dogs coach lamented the cruel luck the club had suffered over the past week.

"I think someone ran over a black cat, unfortunately," he said.

"It seems like our high defenders are going out in sympathy (with each another).

"We lost Josh Prudden at VFL level today – he needs a (knee) reconstruction as well, and he's been going terrifically well. It's disappointing."

The Bulldogs appear well placed to absorb the losses of Murphy and Johannisen, given vice-captain and All Australian defender Easton Wood is expected to return next week from hamstring tightness, and ex-Lion Jed Adcock spent time across half-back in his first game for the club.

"We've schooled our players up in lots of roles and that's one of them," Beveridge said of the injury-hit half-back role.

"We played quite a few of our inside mids through there during the NAB (Challenge) to prepare them for the possibility … so we feel like we've got some boys ready to play the role, but the boys we've lost are first preference in 'Murph' and 'JJ'.

"We'll need our incumbents to pick up the speed and perform a really important role that we value in our team."

Beveridge revealed Murphy would make a decision early this week on when he would undergo reconstructive surgery to his knee.