BULLDOGS supporters will get their first serious look at 2007 draftee Jarrad Grant on Sunday when he takes the field against Carlton.

Football manager James Fantasia said it was a fitting reward for the key forward prospect, who battled osteitis pubis for the second half of last season.

"Jarrad has deserved his opportunity," Fantasia said.

"He's showed really good early form and he's been among the goals for a number of weeks getting bags of three, four and five goals and that's certainly adds to what he can offer.

"It's always good to be blooding new talent in your side. That creates a freshness and is something to be excited about."

Grant's inclusion in the 25-man squad was something of a surprise but Robert Murphy's return after a week in the VFL had been forecast.

"He just needed to be able to get through a match at that level as much for himself as anyone," Fantasia said.

"He'll add some experience back into the group."

Andrejs Everitt and Guy O'Keefe have been added to an extended interchange bench, but must survive Friday's final selection to play.

Fantasia admitted two trips to Perth in the first four rounds had forced the club to monitor its players carefully, but reported the group had recovered fully from last week's match against the Eagles at Subiaco.

"Our recovery on Monday was a bit different because we flew back straight after the game and got in pretty late, so we had a slower start to the week and freshened up," he said.

"Jason Akermanis has a forced lay-off through suspension, but without that there was always going to be a couple of changes and Murph was always going to be one that was going to push up.

"The good thing is that we'll have a seven-day break which we didn't have the week before. The boys have been pretty good on the track and today (Thursday) there were some really good signs."