TIM Callan was trimmed from Geelong's list after last year's stunning premiership success only to discover a new passion for the game at the Western Bulldogs.

The tough defender tasted grand final success in 2007 — albeit with Geelong's VFL side — but after just 15 senior games in five years the 24-year-old saw the writing on the wall.

"It was a great place to be around, even though I didn't play a lot of senior footy," he said yesterday.

"I grew up barracking for the club but things weren't going as planned, so it was a good opportunity to get out and try something new."

The son of former Geelong player Terry Callan — he has already shown the sort of reliability in defence this season that earned his father a Victorian jumper in 1961.

Injury to other Bulldogs helped pave his way into the back six for the round-two game against Melbourne and he has held his spot with a vice-like grip.

"He wants to do well and he sees this as an opportunity to cement a spot," said defensive coach and former Carlton backman Peter Dean.

"Tim's been given a chance early on and he's played some pretty good games. He likes to be physical and if anyone wants to take it up to him, he'll take it back up to them."

The most encouraging sign for Dean and the coaching staff has been Callan's determination to improve his game, which the former Cat admitted needed attention.

"I've been working on my kicking and decision making, which are areas I've had to put time into and basically been doing the things that help you beat your man," Callan said.

Work on the training track has been crucial, but Callan said that there's nothing like match conditions and his six games this year have been a major learning curve.

"It's a real confidence thing, when you string a few games together at AFL level it gives you the belief you can play and (helps) you make better decisions, more consistently."

Dean has seen the improvement, too, and said Callan's hardness and value in contests had been augmented through greater execution by foot and hand.

"His kicking and handball wasn't all that good early on, but his skills have vastly improved," Dean said. "And he's gone from being an eight to 10 possession player to averaging 17 over the last four games.

"Stats can be deceiving these days with the way players chip the ball back, but against Richmond (in round five) he didn't miss a target with one of his 16 possessions."

But Callan is intent on keeping things in perspective. "There's a long way to go, it's a long season," he said.

Assistant coach Leon Cameron rated captain Brad Johnson a good chance of playing against Fremantle this week after being ruled out of the Hall of Fame tribute match with a calf problem.

"He should be right," Cameron said. "He's been struggling to get up over the first five or six weeks with his body, so the break was probably great for him."

Veteran midfielder Scott West will be sidelined for up to two weeks after aggravating a knee injury during the team's bruising encounter with Sydney.

"A couple of our lads were pretty sore after the Sydney game," Cameron said. "Hopefully he (West) will play against the Kangaroos (round nine) or Hawthorn in Tasmania the week after."

With Shaun Higgins (ankle) the only other player on the injury list Cameron said several players could come in for Sunday's game at Subiaco. "Wayde Skipper, Peter Street, Farren Ray, Tom Williams, Andrejs Everitt … there's a lot of players playing really well at Williamstown."