WESTERN Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has admitted his hand was forced by injuries during his side's 70-point loss to Hawthorn on Sunday. 

Key defender Dale Morris suffered a tear to his pectoral muscle during the second quarter and was soon followed from the field by Mitch Wallis, who collected a knock to the lower back. 

Despite trying to work through significant pain on the sideline during the second quarter, Wallis was rendered almost completely inflexible after the knock.

As well as needing a trainer to pick up his tracksuit in the dressing room, he was unable to even bend to sit on the bench, instead being forced to stand alongside the dugout throughout the second half.

Click here for Luke Beveridge's full media conference 

With Marcus Bontempelli and Matthew Boyd also missing due to injuries collected during the lead-up to the clash in Launceston, Beveridge and his coaching team had to shuffle their deck judiciously and despite the magnitude of the loss he was pleased with the endeavour shown by his young side. 

"It means the playbook goes out the window and you go into a mode where you really try to spread your load and your energy levels around the footy and you need to adjust," he said. 

"There were lots of things that needed to happen to achieve that and I thought after half-time when the game could have been a total landslide … I mean, 70 points isn't meritorious, but it could have been significantly more than that, and I was really pleased with the way we came out in the third quarter and almost broke even and we fought it out until the end. 

"I'm proud of the boys' efforts after being a couple of men down." 

With just two fit players on the bench for almost three quarters, the Bulldogs were significantly short on rotations and struggled to maintain the intensity required to compete with the Hawks. 

"You're trying to share interchange with too few and fatigue sets in too early. 

"We really did well and fought it out and Hawthorn are such a powerful side, they're very hard to stop and were very good today. 

"Hawthorn are a powerful side and us, it's where we're climbing to. We know we've still got a way to go but we'll forge ahead." 

While a return for either Morris or Wallis appears to be some way off, Beveridge suggested former skipper Boyd and young star Bontempelli were likely to return in round four when the Dogs host Adelaide on Sunday afternoon.