Sykes broke his finger at training on Wednesday night and will miss the opening three weeks of the competition.

Ryan Pollack will also miss the first fortnight with a torn ligament in his foot.

The latest blows come on top of a pre-season suspension for Turvey Park coach Truman Carroll that will see him miss the first three games of the season.

This has all happened just after marquee recruit Kade Garland walked out to join Brocklesby-Burrumbuttock.

Carroll said there is nothing they can do.

“That’s just how footy rolls, I suppose,” Carroll said.

“You do your best to prepare really well and this happens. We’ll just turn up and do the best we can.

“It was disappointing with what happened with Kade, then myself, that was disappointing too.

“We were unlucky with Jez. It happened in the last five minutes of training, and Poll has just got a real weird injury with his foot.

“It’s hard because that’s three midfielders out but we’ll see what we can do.”

Josh Ashcroft and Jayden Carroll will step up for more important midfield roles, while the Bulldogs will also blood a number of new players when they host Coolamon at Maher Oval on Saturday.

North Wagga recruits Alex Burgmann and Lochie Robertson will play their first games for the club, while Cooper Diessel and Ryan Shaw will make their senior debut.

“This year we’ve been all for trying to blood youth and young blokes, reward those that have been doing the work in the pre-season,” he said.

“This just gives us the opportunity for more fellas to come through.”

A change to the suspension rules over the off-season means that Carroll is unable to coach on Saturday. He cannot be in the sheds before or during the game, or within 25 metres of the interchange bench.

Carroll said he has no shortage of experience to draw on between former coaches Chris Cerato and Dane Campbell, his leadership group and bench coaches Blair Campbell and Peter Cerato.

Meantime, Coolamon will be without their Tiwi Bombers recruits for the season opener.

The trio are unavailable this week for personal reasons. Slyvanni Babui is expected to arrive next week.

The Hoppers have also welcomed back Daniel Johnson and picked up fellow Canberra-based midfielder Jake Oram.

Oram will play against Turvey Park on Saturday, while it is unclear when Johnson will play his first game.

The Hoppers have named Nick Pleming in the middle, in what will be his first game back at the Hoppers since leaving for Canberra.

Fellow NEAFL recruit Jack Baker is not expected back until mid-year as he works back from a knee injury.