THE WESTERN Bulldogs will need to make the finals for Easton Wood to play again this season after scans revealed the star defender sustained a high-grade hamstring tear in the win over the Brisbane Lions.

The club vice-captain has a history of hamstring problems, but hadn't been affected this season until the first quarter of Saturday's game at the Gabba.



The 27-year-old missed six weeks with the injury last season before returning to lead the club to the flag in the absence of captain Robert Murphy.

Bulldogs head physiotherapist Chris Bell told westernbulldogs.com.au while Wood had avoided surgery, the best-case scenario would see the All Australian defender return sometime in September.

"We've worked through a process which has included specialist opinion and we've decided that the best form of management will be conservative management, and that Easton does not require surgery," Bell told the club's website.

"We have started our rebab programming already and hope to have Easton running at the back end of this week."

Star defender Jason Johannisen, who was a late withdrawal ahead of the game against the Lions with hamstring tightness, is likely to be available for Friday night's massive clash against Greater Western Sydney.

"Jason is a real high speed athlete so we weren't prepared to take any risk with these symptoms so we withdrew him from the game," Bell said.

"JJ's come in really well today (Monday) and we'll work through a process with him this week to determine if he’s available to play this weekend."

Dynamic forward Jake Stringer may also be passed fit if he gets through training this week.

Stringer has not played since injuring his hamstring against Carlton in round 17.

"Jake has continued to show great progress on his hamstring injury. He completed a game-like training session on the weekend and has pulled up really well," Bell said.

"If Jake ticks [the] boxes this week with training he’ll be available to play."

However, a call on Tory Dickson, who reported quad tightness in the club's main training session on Thursday before the game against the Lions, will be made later in the week.

"We were forced to withdraw Tory from availability on the weekend… [he’s] come in really well today though on our assessment and we’ll go through a process this week to determine if he’s back into full training and if he’s able to play."

Mitch Honeychurch is also expected to be available after missing the past two weeks with a facial infection.