WESTERN Bulldogs fans were shocked on Tuesday morning when Clay Smith was overlooked for the round one NAB AFL Rising Star nomination, but Bulldogs midfielder Daniel Cross says Smith's time will come.

The 18-year-old hard-nut booted four goals in an electric AFL debut against West Coast on Sunday, before being subbed off with cramp in the third quarter.

Watch BulldogsTV's coverage of Daniel Cross' press conference on the media player above, or via our Club Mobile App here.

He was passed over for the nomination in favour of Brisbane Lions midfielder Claye Beams, who had 25 touches against Melbourne and dominated his direct opponent Brent Moloney.

Cross described Smith's performance as "pretty special", and said a rising star nod wouldn't be far away.

"I'm sure he'll probably get one by the end of the year, but that's for [the AFL] to decide," Cross said at the Whitten Oval on Tuesday.

"Probably his full body cramp cost him, being subbed out of the game was unfortunate for him.

"But I'm sure Clay doesn't really worry about that. He was happy to get his first game and he contributed so well.

"If we got just half of that out of him it would have been amazing, so he did really well."

After their opening round 49-point loss to the Eagles, the Bulldogs next face in-form Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.

They look set to be boosted by the return of onballer Ryan Griffen from a broken finger, after he trained strongly on Tuesday.

Cross said Griffen would wear a finger guard for protection, after it was "smashed to smithereens" just three weeks ago in a NAB Cup match against Geelong.

"I don't know exactly, but I'm pretty sure he'll be right to go," Cross said.

"The way he's trained out here today, it looks that way.

"It was a pretty nasty injury, but Ryan's pretty resilient and tough, and he'll just wear a bit of protection and he'll be fine."

Cross also backed defender Lukas Markovic to bounce back from the weekend, after his direct opponent Josh Kennedy booted seven goals in a best on ground display.

Markovic faces another challenging task this week against one of the Crows' key forward duo of Kurt Tippett and Taylor Walker.

"The coaches absolutely love him (Markovic), his teammates absolutely love him, what he brings with his effort," Cross said.

"(Kennedy's performance) certainly wasn't all his fault.

"Our execution going forward, the ball was coming back very quickly, and it's hard to stop, even for the best defenders in the competition."