At least one change will be made to the Western Bulldogs side to face Carlton, with Senior Coach Brendan McCartney indicating a young defender could be in line for selection.

The Bulldogs will be forced to replace Dale Morris in the side after he was dealt a one game ban from the match review panel, with a like-for-like replacement expected.

McCartney did not disclose which key tall had caught his eye in the VFL, although he did confirm that both Michael Talia and Fletcher Roberts were making strides in their development.

“We have our own [VFL] team now, we have some young defenders that we have been able to play as tall defenders for five or six weeks,” McCartney said.

“One of them is just starting to do the couple of things I put the pressure on him to be better at, a lot better at.

“Both are progressing quite well [but] are they ready-made AFL players - maybe they are, maybe they’re not – one of them is probably going to get a good opportunity very soon.”

The Bulldogs are hopeful that Luke Dahlhaus will be available, after missing last weekend with calf soreness.

“He’s going to train this morning, if he trains well he will play – more likely he’ll play,” he said.

“He’s got to get through training though and recover well and if he does that we will put him out there.”

McCartney said a debut could also be on the horizon after Marcus Bontempelli continued to impress in the VFL for Footscray last weekend.

“He’s in the mix. He did some really incredible things in the VFL last week but if we have to make changes there’s going to be some pretty unlucky players to go out,” he said.

“When we sit down to look at the team in a couple of hours I am sure we will discuss his name.”