Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade says captain Brad Johnson is likely to miss Sunday’s AFL clash with Hawthorn as he continues to recover from a virus.

Johnson missed last Sunday’s win over Richmond and Eade said he was vomiting and had a high fever that night.

The coach said Johnson’s health was improving but given the amount of time he had spent out of action the club was unlikely to risk him.

Johnson was not part of the club’s training session on Wednesday.

“He looks he’s on the mend now, he probably should be right by Friday to train,” Eade said.

“What we’ve got to decide now is because he hasn’t trained for a week or 10 days, with his lack of game preparation does he need continuity as far as training?

“Indications are we will probably err on the side of being conservative with his condition as far as energy levels and have a week’s training next week.”

Fellow veteran Nathan Eagleton is set to spend another week in the VFL after working his way back from a preseason injury.

While the Hawks have been hit with several suspensions and injuries arising from Monday’s bruising clash with Geelong, Eade said he did not feel it was a good time to be playing them.

He said the physical nature of their clash with the Cats showed the Hawks were at their competitive best.

“I’m probably more worried about that than if they played a lacklustre game,” he said.

“… The fact that it was full intensity, that’s what you’d expect from them this week, so that’s what we’re thinking.

“It probably needs to heighten our awareness of what it’s going to be like this week.”

The Bulldogs hope to gain an edge in the ruck, where Hawthorn injuries mean youngster Brent Renouf is again set to take on two opponents – Ben Hudson and Will Minson – singlehandedly.

Despite solid efforts, Renouf has been worn down late in each of the first two rounds, contributing to the Hawks being heavily outscored in the final minutes of both.

“Obviously he was fatigued in the end, but that was certainly no fault of his,” Eade said.

“I think they’ll probably give him some more help this week, whether (Jarryd) Roughead does a bit more or whether (Luke) Hodge and these sort of players, but I thought the kid battled on pretty manfully.

“Hopefully we can get an advantage, but that’s like every week we go in, we know we’ve got two very good ruckmen and we hope we can get an advantage there every week.”