A CAGEY Luke Beveridge has refused to reveal the make up of the Western Bulldogs' travelling party to Perth for the clash with West Coast on Friday night.
Speaking to the media at Melbourne Airport on Thursday morning, the premiership coach batted back questions on who would come into the side to replace Jake Stringer (knee) and Josh Dunkley (shoulder).
"I'm not going to answer that, sorry. It's just really early in the day, and I'd rather not send that (selection) message to Perth before the teams come out this afternoon," Beveridge said.
"Just respect the fact it's early on Thursday, West Coast aren't going to declare their team this early in the day and I'm not going to either."
However, Beveridge did end up disclosing a "disappointed" Mitch Wallis wouldn't be playing, with the club taking a cautious approach with his return from a badly broken leg.
Wallis will play for a third straight week in the VFL, and will joined again by forward Stewart Crameri, who is yet to gain any continuity this season following an ongoing hip complaint.
Tory Dickson will be rested from all levels of football after playing the past two weeks at state league level in his resumption from an abdominal strain.
Ruckman Jordan Roughead will also play in the VFL on Saturday after recovering from a serious hamstring injury sustained in the JLT Community Series.
Third-year midfielder Lukas Webb caught the plane west and will definitely play, with the coach happy with the "highly skilled" playmaker's development.
The 21-year-old has been in blazing VFL form in recent weeks and thoroughly deserves the chance to build on his 15 career games.
How the Dogs will structure up in the ruck could be behind why Beveridge was reluctant to divulge his squad, with questions marks over who will help out Tom Boyd.
Dunkley and fellow midfielder Lin Jong have provided unconventional assistance in the absence of Roughead, Travis Cloke and Tom Campbell.
"I'm not getting caught up in what they're doing (in the ruck), but it's something we're considering week-to-week on the best way to push forward with that," he said.
"And that's part of the reason why we don't want to declare who is on the plane because if they find out our 22 or 23 we take, then that might influence (the Eagles' selection.)
"If they choose to go in a little bit smaller and pick the one ruck, that puts pressure on a defender or forward to come into the ruck.
"But we're pretty firm in the way we're going go in (selection wise.)"
