Matthew Boyd is confident the Western Bulldogs can bounce back from Sunday’s 67 point loss to Richmond, as he presses for selection for his first game for season 2013.

The Bulldogs captain said the continued development of his teammates over the pre-season and an increased depth at Whitten Oval will put the Club in good stead to rebound quickly against Adelaide this Sunday.

“We’ve got a bit of work to do, but we’ll bounce back from that,” Boyd told Triple M’s Rush Hour yesterday.

“We think we’ve improved from last year… we do think we have taken a step forward.

“We’ve got more depth as well – so we [had] a couple of really high draft picks… they’ve played some really good footy [in the VFL] over the last couple of weeks.”

With a number of Bulldogs listed players impressing in Williamstown’s 100 point defeat over Coburg on Saturday, there is no shortage of young talent available for selection.

Highly touted draft picks Jack Macrae and Jake Stringer are two who could come into senior calculations, after Macrae collected 27 disposals, five tackles and two goals against Coburg, while Stringer dominated in the forward line with five goals.

The Dogs were dealt a blow yesterday with Shaun Higgins, Easton Wood and Tory Dickson all being added to the injury list, but Boyd said their omission will clear the path for young and emerging players to be exposed to senior football.

It’s expected the Bulldogs lineup will be further bolstered on Sunday when Boyd makes his much anticipated return, after suffering a calf injury during the NAB Cup competition.

“I should be right this week – the plan is to play this week,” he said.

“Obviously you’ve got to tick some boxes and get through some fairly solid training sessions and then hopefully back out there Sunday.”

Boyd has also thrown his support behind Senior Coach Brendan McCartney’ s calm and composed methods as they head into round four.

“He is a nurturer – he can give a spray but he’s very good at getting around the boys and telling them what they’ve done wrong, but also giving them some advice on how to fix it up,” he said.

“Obviously [he was] a teacher in the past, so he’s a great educator and a great communicator.”