The Western Bulldogs are preparing for life without important forwards Aaron Naughton and Sam Lloyd for at least the next month.

Both were injured in Thursday night’s win against the Sydney Swans, with Naughton undergoing surgery on Saturday and Lloyd set for surgery today.

Lloyd (38 goals) and Naughton (32 goals) were the Bulldogs’ two leading goal-kickers in 2019, and are recovering from a broken collarbone and ankle syndesmosis injury respectively.

“We will confirm Sam’s timeframe for recovery following the surgery, but expect him to miss the next 4-6 weeks,” medical services manager, Chris Bell, said. 

“After working through a process with Aaron, we decided that surgical intervention would give us the best outcome.

“We will continue to work with Aaron over the next few weeks to lock in a return to play timeframe, but expect him to miss 6-8 weeks.”

However, the Bulldogs could have experienced pair Easton Wood (quad) and Lin Jong (Achilles) available this week, plus small forward Ben Cavarra (hand).

Jong missed the win over the Swans, after playing the two previous matches.

“The day before the game last week, Lin came to the club and reported that he had developed Achilles soreness,” Bell said.

“That soreness has been improving over the last few days, and we will make a decision on Lin’s availability towards the end of this week.”

Wood and Cavarra both took part in a game-like session on the weekend, and will be available if they get through training this week. 

Injury list

Ben Cavarra (hand) available
Easton Wood (quad) test
Lin Jong (achilles) test
Taylor Duryea (quad) 2-3 weeks
Sam Lloyd (collarbone) 4-6 weeks
Josh Dunkley (ankle) 5-7 weeks
Aaron Naughton (ankle) 6-8 weeks
Riley Garcia (knee) indefinite