Western Bulldogs ruckman Peter Street says he is out to prove a point to the club, after it took an injury crisis of giant proportions for him to be selected.

Street will play his first match of the AFL season against Geelong on Saturday, but was irked that he was not in the team from the opening round.

"I didn't think highly of (coach Rodney Eade) at the time when he told me I wasn't playing," Street said.

The 211cm giant was a regular Bulldogs player in the second half of last season, making the most of skipper Luke Darcy's absence to cement a spot as Will Minson's rucking partner.

So when Darcy again went down with a knee injury in the off-season, and young tall players Tim Walsh and Tom Williams also suffered long-term injuries, Street seemed certain to start the season.

Instead, he had to wait for Minson to break his leg last week and another back-up ruckman Adam Morgan to suffer an ACL rupture before finally being given his chance.

"There was no-one left, and if I didn't play this week I was probably going to give it away," Street joked.

While he will be playing against his former club, Geelong, for the first time, he said he had more of a point to prove to his current club.

"I just want to cement my spot as a ruckman in the Western Bulldogs club and it just happens to be against my old team," he said.

Coach Rodney Eade, who said Street would be the starting ruckman on Saturday, understood his annoyance at not being picked earlier.

"Peter played well most of the last 10 or 11 games last year and I think he gained a lot of self-belief," Eade said.

"I think he was a little bit dirty he didn't get picked in round one, which is fair enough, his form was okay, but just for various reasons we went another way."

The Cats are also suffering a big-man shortage.

Ruckman-forward Brad Ottens failed to train, casting some doubt over his availability.

Geelong was already set to go into the match without No.1 ruckman Steven King (hamstring), fullback Matthew Scarlett (suspended) and centre half-back Tom Harley (knee).

"We've got a fair bit of height out, too, it might just be a game of the future - just a running, midfielders' type game," Cats coach Mark Thompson said.

"You can only play the team that's available and we've got a few tall ones out - they have too, so we're in very similar positions really."

Tom Lonergan and David Wojcinski are likely to come into the side.

The Bulldogs sit unbeaten on the top of the ladder, after wins over Richmond, Melbourne and Essendon, with the match against the Cats seen as a better test of how good the 2006 'Dogs really are.

But Eade said he did not view it that way, rating the Cats as a legitimate premiership contender and his 'Dogs as a team still in a development stage.

"We're a young side, Geelong are a very good team and a very good football club," Eade said.

"So win, lose or draw I think we get some positives out of it and it's part of the learning curve."

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