Big man Tim English will miss a second consecutive match, after being a late withdrawal from the Western Bulldogs’ win against the Brisbane Lions.

The emerging ruckman had built a nice patch of form, before the wear and tear of the game on his body forced a week off.

“Tim is sore – he got a cork, he got probably three or four blows around the same sort of area,” senior coach Luke Beveridge said on Friday.

“The blood tracked down into his knee and he’s got a hematoma and a pooling of blood in his thigh… there’s no way he could play last week in the end.

“We thought he was a chance, we took it right up to it (the last minute)… we scanned him after we pulled him out and discovered this pool of blood that was giving him most of the grief.

“General soreness is probably a good description, we stand by that – even though he got a few knocks in the one spot.”

English remains a chance to return next week, however the Bulldogs were well served by Jackson Trengove as the lead ruck against the Lions, with key defender Zaine Cordy playing a supporting role.

The Bulldogs will have another big challenge on their hands this week against the in-form Geelong Cats.

Beveridge’s men broke a string of 11 consecutive defeats against the Cats in a nail-biter last year, and will be out to end a run of eight consecutive defeats in Geelong on Saturday afternoon.

“We’ve been down there a couple of times since I’ve coached the boys, and in those games we’ve been in there and… haven’t been able to pull it off,” he said. 

“At least we’re coming off finally beating them last year, so we broke the camel’s back with that and now we’re looking forward to going down the highway and taking them on.”