Daniel Cross and his fellow Western Bulldogs midfielders will have a dress rehearsal over the next week or two for life in the AFL without Scott West.

With the 33-year-old star out for at least one game with a knee injury, the Bulldogs must reorganise their onballers and replicate the "grunt" that West gives them at the stoppages.

West will be a big loss for the unbeaten Bulldogs in Friday night's match against Essendon at Telstra Dome.

"Obviously Westy has been our main midfielder for 14-15 years, so it's going to be extremely tough," Cross said.

"He's our best ball-winner, it's going to be up to myself and the other younger guys, Griff (Ryan Griffen), Coons (Adam Cooney) and Boydy (Matthew Boyd) to pick up the slack.

"He'll be well-missed, but hopefully it will only be for one or two weeks."

Cross is renowned for his running ability and will probably take over as the team's top midfielder once West decides to retire.

Over the last couple of seasons, the Bulldogs have lost some of their top players to retirement - Chris Grant, Rohan Smith and Luke Darcy have all given the game away.

Cross said a solid pre-season had meant improved depth of talent through the midfield and he is confident the 'Dogs can cover West's absence.

"He's not going to be here forever, we've seen Granty, Smith and Darc in the last few years leave - they're big gaps to fill," Cross said.

"It's going to give us a good indication of how we can go without Scotty directing us around and take a bit of leadership ourselves.

"We've really improved on our fitness over summer compared to last year - the two years before that, we were really good, but this year we have a lot of depth in our midfield.

"Young Josh Hill is playing really well on the wing and we've got a lot of good runners."

Meanwhile, Bulldogs assistant coach Wayne Campbell said he was pleased for his long-time Richmond team-mate Matthew Knights - but only to a point.

Knights is in his first season as Essendon coach and there has been no contact between the two old Tigers in the lead-up to Friday's game.

"He's started off very well, they've got a very good game plan, they're playing exciting footy," Campbell said.

Asked if he was happy for Knights, Campbell replied: "I think so, I suppose so - as long as we beat them on Friday night.

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