Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has pushed back on the suggestion Jamarra Ugle-Hagan could miss the entire AFL season, indicating things are starting to click for the indefinitely sidelined forward.

Former No.1 draft pick Ugle-Hagan spent time away from the club during pre-season due to personal reasons and has not been consistently training with the Bulldogs’ main group.

Earlier this week, Beveridge told Fox Sports he couldn’t answer “definitively” whether Ugle-Hagan, 22, would play this year.

When asked if discussions of Ugle-Hagan missing the season were premature, Beveridge said on Thursday: “Well, I think people are using my words to maybe project that that’s a possibility.

“And when I said I can’t be definitive as to when, that alludes to the fact that that could happen. So we’re not sure.

“But applying yourself at this level and having continuity with your preparation now is what he’s after, what we’re after and once he gets that it’s just how long it’s sustainable at this point in time.

“So once he can sustain a period of time with that, he’ll be a candidate to make a return on the field.”

Beveridge was asked if there were issues around trust in Ugle-Hagan.

“The trust aspect, I suppose that’s in the language and the messaging between ‘Marra’ and the club, and I don’t think we’ve ever said anything about that,” he said.

“We’ve just appreciated the fact that he’s got some life challenges that then present as impediments to him playing at this level and so it’s not really a trust situation.

“It’s just (about) how do we as far as motivating an individual and then helping them become a self-starter again.

“That’s where we’re at, and there’s evidence that he’s self-starting better than he had been. Now we need a sustainable run with that.”

The Bulldogs are without Marcus Bontempelli, Adam Treloar, Cody Weightman and Liam Jones through injury.

Defender James O’Donnell (broken jaw) will miss Friday night’s game against Collingwood, with Buku Khamis and potential debutant Jedd Busslinger potential replacements.

Luke Cleary (concussion) is also sidelined.

The Bulldogs are reverting to their Footscray name for Friday’s match at the MCG, to celebrate 100 years in the VFL/AFL.

The club has drawn on the occasion throughout the week, with past players visiting.

Beveridge read a letter from Irene Chatfield, one of the faces of the 1989 ‘Fightback’ campaign to stop the club from going under, to his players.

“I said to the players this morning, we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Irene,” Beveridge said.

“Irene writes me a letter every week, and she expects that I read that out to the playing group, and I read her letter out this morning.

“... It was magnificent, quite beautiful, her words, quite quirky.

“And so we soaked that up a little bit, just to pay tribute to Irene as much as anything.”