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The Western Bulldogs have continued their brilliant start to the season but injuries to Josh Dunkley, Tim English and Lin Jong has removed a bit of the shine.
The unbeaten Western Bulldogs have continued their best start to a season since 1946, but Luke Beveridge was left to count the cost of the hard-fought 39-point win over GWS.
Josh Dunkley (shoulder), Tim English (concussion) and Lin Jong (hamstring) all failed to see out the 15.14 (104) to 9.11 (65) win at Manuka Oval on Friday night that moved the Dogs to a 6-0 win-loss record.
Dunkley is in danger of missing a large portion of the season, having twice dislocated his right shoulder in the final term.
English will miss Friday night's blockbuster clash with reigning premier Richmond at the MCG after Aaron Naughton's knee connected with his chin in a last-quarter marking contest.
Injury-plagued Jong, playing in his first match of the season and first since July last year, was clearly distressed as he was helped from the ground in the opening term.
"It's an emotional night for him and his teammates," Beveridge said of the popular Jong.
"When things like that happen in games, they're that connected, that you're not sure how that's going to affect them.
"So that just accentuates the outcome and how enormous it was because they can go out in sympathy for their (injured) teammates.
"I think we're going to lose him for a little while."
English will go into the AFL's 12-day concussion protocol and will also have scans to determine if he has suffered any fractures in the heavy collision with his teammate.
Beveridge is confident the Bulldogs have the depth to cover their first major injury test of the season, with midfielder Patrick Lipinski at the head of the queue to be included for the big game against the reigning premiers.
"They've been the testing material for a long time," the coach said.
"It's important that we absolutely respect what they do because they've been a phenomenal outfit.
"They've got such a stable brand, but at the same time we've got to make sure that we reflect on what's working for us and do our absolute best to bring that out and have faith that that's going to test the Tigers."
