The No.1 pick in the 2013 national draft landed at Greater Western Sydney amid much fanfare, but his debut season was less than spectacular, managing only nine games, squeezed out of the Giants' best 22 by Jeremy Cameron and Jonathon Patton. That was in a team still something of a punching bag for opponents, with GWS finishing 16th on only six wins.

Which meant when the Western Bulldogs came calling at the end of 2014 with an unprecedented (for a player of such little experience) and staggering seven-year deal worth more than $6 million, the decision seemed pretty simple.

The Dogs had won only one game more than the Giants that season, but were in far more desperate need of a key forward, their goalkicking stocks propped up by the hardly gigantic Stewart Crameri and Jake Stringer. What Boyd hadn't counted on was the revolution about to sweep through the Whitten Oval, which would catapult Luke Beveridge into the coaching job.

It instantly gave the Bulldogs a more competitive face on the field. But so too – it has often appeared – is the club far less inclined to put all its eggs in the basket of one would-be forward saviour.

As Boyd struggled through 14 games in which he kicked 16 goals before being dropped to the VFL for the rest of the season, the Bulldogs found alternative, smaller targets such as Tory Dickson, who worked well alongside Stringer and Crameri, and, at Boyd's expense, another key target in Jack Redpath.

Crameri's season-long suspension this year courtesy of the Essendon supplements scandal opened the door for Boyd, but it came in the form of a forward/ruck role, the results at best mixed until Boyd injured his shoulder in round four.

That piece of poor timing was no one's fault, unlike the altercation with Zaine Cordy that has cost both the would-be star and his club dearly. Unlike last year, the Bulldogs' forward structure has been a problem all season – no Crameri, Dickson at first injured then well down on last year's numbers since his return, and Stringer and Redpath feeling the strain.

The Bulldogs' goalkicking spread has been vastly reduced, and the Dogs stand equal-10th in the rankings for points scored, by far the worst of any of the top eight teams.

That should have made Boyd's return to the senior side – after three games back in the VFL – for a critical game against Sydney on Saturday an absolute no-brainer.

Instead, he'll be turning out in the VFL again, $5000 lighter in the pocket, embarrassed and having also embarrassed his club.

Two days out from one of their biggest challenges of the season, the last thing the Bulldogs needed was to be focusing on crisis-management and, it has to be said, not making a particularly good fist of it.

However sketchily the club's statement painted the time frame of the Boyd-Cordy dust-up, and "last several weeks" is certainly that, along with a comprehensive mangling of the English language, the revelation makes a mockery of the press conference Beveridge held on Tuesday when he was asked about Boyd's selection prospects.

"He's close. He played pretty well against Frankston in the last VFL game, so we'll look at that," Beveridge said before a heavy qualifier about making sure Boyd's shoulder was OK. Which doesn't say much about the competitiveness of the state competition, if three matches weren't enough to do exactly that.

If the Bulldogs were trying to keep the lid on it, it was an attempt that ended as these things usually do. Badly.

And Boyd? Well, if the high-priced recruit was having trouble winning Beveridge over, as his sporadic use in 1 years and changes of role might indicate, it's going to be a lot tougher now. Opinions vary as to his potential and his place in the Bulldogs' line-up. Former Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd believes Boyd at this stage isn't in the best 22. He did also point out that Boyd's stats to date are comparable with what Tom Hawkins had achieved at the same stage.

The obvious difference is Hawkins had not only the complete faith of his coaches, but also no huge price tag hanging over his head.

Boyd's timing, once again, has been impeccably bad. And as each week of his indefinite suspension passes, that $6 million tag will look not just like a millstone, but more like a crushing burden for both him and his club.