WESTERN Bulldogs defenders Ryan Hargrave and James Mulligan are being considered to bolster the backline this week against Richmond in the expected absence of Tom Williams and Brian Lake.

Hargrave played his first game for the year last weekend in the VFL after overcoming two bouts of off-season surgery on a serious foot complaint.

Mulligan, 21, is a former rookie in his fourth season at Whitten Oval. He started this season in the Williamstown reserves but has since played four matches in the VFL seniors.

With Williams likely to miss with the ankle he rolled against the Sydney Swans last Saturday and Lake expected to spend a second week gathering match fitness and form in the lower league, the Dogs could call up one or two of the defenders to take on the Tigers' forward line, which includes last year's Coleman medallist Jack Riewoldt.

"Hargrave has played one game but he's trained for four or five weeks with pretty solid conditioning," Bulldogs general manager of football James Fantasia told afl.com.au this week.

"I dare say he'd come under consideration, especially with Tom hurting his ankle last week."

Mulligan, who at 199cm and close to 100kg is Barry Hall's usual pre-season match-up, could break through for his AFL debut almost four years after he made his way from Queensland club Southport to the club through the 2008 NAB AFL Rookie Draft.

"I love the fact we're talking about him. He's had some genuine form and I think that's a real positive for any player if they're going to get selected because it gives them confidence," Fantasia said.

"He's very realistic and in the mix, and I wouldn't rule him out."

The Dogs won't make a final assessment on Williams until later in the week but it appears unlikely the key back will play despite playing out the loss to the Swans.

"His ankle started to blow up through the game and you're never really sure because they sometimes go down very quickly or other times it takes a bit longer," Fantasia said.

"We're hopeful he can still get up for it and it's helped that it's a Sunday game with an eight-day break."

Hall is a certainty to miss as he continues to work his way back from an ankle operation after the round five loss to Fremantle, while Shaun Higgins will be assessed again but is likely to nurse his groin through another weekend.

"Hall's got to get a bit more of rest into that ankle and start light training, which is what he's doing now," Fantasia said.

"Shaun will be a test this week. We're not ruling him out but he's the same as last week; we don't want to be in a position where we're rushing him back."

Fantasia said the club's doctors were closer to working out how to manage Higgins' groin issues and believed they were on top of his treatment.

"You either rest it or have surgery on it. From the managing side, we're hoping it's going to come good itself and I think that's happening because he's getting more and more movement," he said.

"He's feeling good and that's the best part."'

Tom Liberatore is a chance to return after missing last week with general soreness while Jayden Schofield could debut after being named as an emergency in the past two matches.

Fantasia also said the match committee would discuss the merits of giving last week's first-gamer Zeph Skinner a longer opportunity to show his wares after he was substituted into the Swans' game in the third quarter.

"It's more about team balance and what's good for him as well," he said.

"We're probably not keen to play a player starting off as the sub a couple of weeks in a row.

"That's the talking point at the moment; do we keep him in and give him more game time or do we change things altogether? That'll be one of the decisions made in the next couple of days."

Patrick Veszpremi will return from a broken finger this weekend in the VFL.