Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says despite having to deal with a number of forced changes to his side each week, he is pleased with how his group is progressing so far.

The Bulldogs currently sit in second spot on the ladder with an 8-1 record, most recently beating Port Adelaide by 19 points at Adelaide Oval.

That win however was soured by a hamstring injury to veteran defender Easton Wood early in the match.

Beveridge said while Hayden Crozier – who was activated as the medical sub on Saturday night – was the obvious replacement this weekend against St Kilda, the prospect of bringing in some additional height is appealing.

“’Croz’ and Easton play a similar role, and ‘Croz’ was the medical sub on the weekend so I think it’s logical that he takes up that spot,” Beveridge told media on Tuesday morning.

“It’s a good question as to whether or not ‘Gards’ (Ryan Gardner) comes back in, as the Saints have challenged us with their height historically – they’ve had a really good combination of that aerial advantage, small forwards and half-back flankers who have really challenged us.

“I was impressed with the way they started the Cats game without getting that reward on the scoreboard.

“We’ll be expecting that aspect of their intensity and vigour at the start of our game as well.”

After nine rounds, the Bulldogs have used the most players (36) this season, having lost some key performers to injury in recent weeks.

With Lachie Hunter (hand) and Tim English (concussion) still needing to prove their fitness throughout the week, Beveridge said he has been pleased with the group’s progress despite the number of changes each week.

“We saw Cody step up and play a terrific game on the weekend, and Zaine’s recently come back into the team among others. Roarke Smith also played a really important role for us the other night – we’re asking new and progressive things of our players,” Beveridge said.

“I think what we’re doing forward of the ball has been extremely encouraging this year, and it has given us peace of mind with the boys who have been playing really important roles.

“Obviously we’ve hit the scoreboard quite regularly, but at the same time we’ve had a really good balance in defence.

“I think the team is working well together and cohesively - I suppose if you do look back, we obviously dropped the Richmond game, we dropped that final (against St Kilda) and we dropped a Geelong game towards the end of last year, so we’ve put together a pretty good sequence from last year into this year.”

The Bulldogs will host St Kilda at Marvel Stadium this Saturday night in the annual Barker-Whitten Challenge.