Off-season recruit Josh Bruce hasn’t been able to make a major scoreboard impact yet in red, white and blue – but don’t let that fool you as to his influence, says senior coach Luke Beveridge.

The Western Bulldogs have found form over the past fortnight, with wins against the Sydney Swans and GWS Giants, after a tough start to the season.

And Beveridge says Bruce has been a big part of that, with the key forward’s presence looming as even more important in the absence of injured duo Aaron Naughton and Sam Lloyd for at least the next month.

“I’ve got no doubt that he’ll give everything required for the team on Saturday,” Beveridge said ahead of his side’s clash with North Melbourne.

“He’s really helped us over the past two weeks present a united front and play some really good, combative footy.

“We played pretty average footy in the first two rounds. It wouldn’t have mattered who you were playing in that forward line, it would have been extremely tough.

“We were really happy with the way he finished off last week’s game, under some duress. We were obviously two men down.”

In Naughton’s absence, Bruce will this week be joined by Josh Schache in the key forward posts, with the 22-year-old called up for his first AFL match of 2020.

Bruce will likely have one of the competition’s best defenders for company this week, in Robbie Tarrant.

But Beveridge is confident the rewards will come for the 28-year-old, who has had plenty of close attention in his early days as a Bulldog.

“One of the things we’ve got to continue to address is freedom with forwards and being held by jumpers or arms around,” Beveridge said.

“We don’t send vision into the AFL, but Brucey’s fighting through that at the moment.

“The spoils will come for him.

“He’ll kick some goals, he’ll create some directly and take some big marks and that will start to blossom at some point. 

“But we’re happy with the way he’s going about his business at the moment.”