The Western Bulldogs expect playmaker Jason Johannisen to return from injury for Saturday’s season-shaping AFL fixture against Melbourne.

Johannisen missed the Dogs’ win against Adelaide last Sunday because of ankle injury but is in the selection frame for this weekend.

“At this stage it’s looking pretty likely,” Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli told reporters on Tuesday.

“He was pretty close to playing on the weekend just gone, it was probably just the short turnaround … it wasn’t enough time.

“All things progressing this week as we plan them to, he should be back out there.”

Johannisen’s return would be a fillip for the Dogs when they meet the Demons on the Gold Coast, with both clubs in a ladder logjam.

Melbourne sit in eighth spot with 24 points, with a game in hand on the Bulldogs who are in 10th spot, also with 24 points.

Just eight premiership points split seventh spot from 13th place, with Bontempelli’s outfit firmly in the mix.

“There’s opportunities up ahead and that’s the way we’re thinking … we have to keep forcing our best football on teams and giving ourselves that opportunity,” he said.

The Demons enter Saturday’s clash on a hot streak of three consecutive triumphs while Bontempelli said his Dogs were still searching for consistency after snapping a three-game losing stretch by downing the winless Crows.

“We clearly haven’t been to win as much as we would like in the last couple of weeks,” he said.

“It does fall on your leaders and more senior players at those times, we have still got a pretty young group each week.

“We have had those lapses in games – the Brisbane game, the Port Adelaide game.

“They’re probably not massive periods of time but just small chunks that have been pretty meaningful for the opposition and it has hurt us.”