Captain Marcus Bontempelli has played a dead bat to speculation about the AFL future of Western Bulldogs teammate Jamarra Ugle-Hagan.
The key forward is making a steady return to football after needing time off for personal issues, and it remains unclear when Ugle-Hagan will return to top-level competition.
He enjoyed time with the Indigenous All-Stars in Perth over the weekend when they played Fremantle in a pre-season match.
Amid his off-field struggles, there has been speculation about whether he will leave the Dogs at the end of the season.
But Bontempelli brushed off the topic when speaking at Tuesday's launch of the Fox Footy and Kayo AFL coverage for the coming season.
"You don't buy into it all ... there are always things going to be said, especially around high-profile players who are extremely talented," Bontempelli said.
"It doesn't factor into my opinion at all. The focus is Jamarra and obviously his personal health and wellbeing.
"The football stuff will come second."
Bontempelli is rapt that Ugle-Hagan appears to be in good spirits.
"When you think about the team around him, that's there to support him, the things that have been going on in his space - it's just good to see him at training," he said.
"He had a nice weekend away with the All-Stars game, around the Indigenous lads.
"No timeline, no expectations from my perspective, just having him back in the program whenever we can.''
The Bulldogs have suffered another injury setback, with small forward Cody Weightman needing knee surgery that will sideline him for the first half of the season.
Adam Treloar and Liam Jones are also sidelined with injuries.
"It's been a bit of a process to get to this stage, obviously trying to get him to the start of the season in good shape as best he can," Bontempelli said of Weightman.
"After spending 11 or 12 years in the game, you're never really shocked around the toll sometimes the pre-season can have.
"Disappointing for Cody, disappointing for the team, but now's the time to understand it, with a few weeks left (in the pre-season), to get our heads around it."
Always the optimist, Bontempelli said the Bulldogs' injuries could help the team's mindset.
"It's going to test our resilience, maybe early on in the piece, which can only be a good thing for us ... it just prepares you for the other (challenges)," he said.
"Understand it's the first real (hit-out) - keenness isn't a bad thing, it's just how we can rewire it to look a little bit more like how we would have wanted.''
