Bont in clear to take on Kangas

MARCUS Bontempelli is a certain starter tonight for the injury-ravaged Western Bulldogs against North Melbourne.

Bontempelli sent a huge scare through the Dogs camp when he hurt his knee against Port Adelaide, but escaped with a hyperextension to play out the game.

The midfielder trained away from teammates yesterday, but coach Luke Beveridge said he wasn’t on an injury list that has swelled to double digits. “He’ll definitely play. We won’t do much today, he’s got through all his work and I think we all got a bit of a shock when we saw him hyper-extend that knee over in Adelaide,” Beveridge said.

“There’s been all sorts of talk about blacks cats and ladders, but he’s fine and has recovered really well.”

Veteran defender Dale Morris is one of four inclusions, with Aaron Naughton and Josh Dunkley, while Marcus Adams will play his first game of the year.

Beveridge said Morris’s second comeback from a knee injury had been “astronomical”.

“His reputation continues to grow as the iron man,” he said. “It’s a bit of a surprise, we thought he’d be another week. His physical preparation week to week is second to none.”

Shane Biggs has been dropped again, joining injured trio Easton Wood (hamstring), Lukas Webb (thumb) and Jack Macrae (hamstring) on the sidelines. It is the third time Biggs, a 2016 premiership defender and out of contract at season’s end, has been dumped from the side.

“Biggsy has his challenges and there’s some specific things in his game that leave us a little bit vulnerable at times that he’s working on that didn’t necessarily come to the fore against Port,” Beveridge said.

While Biggs’s future is unclear, Tory Dickson, Lin Jong, Clay Smith and Matt Suckling are also coming out of contract, while Jordan Roughead, Luke Dahlhaus, Tom Liberatore, Dale Morris and Mitch Wallis are free agents.