VETERAN Bulldog Matthew Boyd was taken to hospital with a nasty ear injury following Thursday night's win over the Gold Coast.

Boyd collected an accidental elbow from giant Sun Peter Wright in the final quarter, splitting his ear.

He was carted off the field and did not return.

"He's got a lacerated ear," Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said post-match.

"I haven't seen it, but it must be bad enough to need some stitches and some pretty handy needle work, I think he needs some plastic surgery on that ear.

"He's gone off to the hospital now."

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The injury blow took a little gloss off the stirring 21-point victory that came after the Bulldogs trailed by 49 in the first half.

After losing their previous two JLT Community Series matches, Beveridge said it was crucial to arrest the slide and show some form ahead of round one.

"We came here this afternoon wanting to get some momentum and take it into the next couple of weeks in the lead-up to round one, and to see the way the early part of the game unfolded, it couldn't have been any worse really," he said.

"We recalibrated, we checked ourselves, we stayed positive obviously and to have that difference in the scoreline after quarter-time was really significant.

"We needed to fix a few things up and our players made some great adjustments.

"We're pretty happy with that in the end, pretty proud of the way they fought back and came over the top."

WATCH: Luke Beveridge's full post-match press conference

Beveridge said winning last year's premiership had given his team belief that helped them under duress.

Despite still being able to use 24 players, the Bulldogs used just 22 against the Suns, with defender Marcus Adams and draftee ruckman Tim English kept on the sidelines.

"The temptation is with Marcus and Tim sitting there, especially when you get down so far, is to inject them," Beveridge said.

"We needed to troubleshoot and problem-solve and work it out with the 22 that started the game, not bring a couple of saviours into the game."

Adams and English will play in the VFL practice match against Richmond on Friday.