Luke Beveridge will consider resting stricken captain Marcus Bontempelli after the 12-point loss to Fremantle despite the Bulldogs’ midfield being hit hard by injuries.
Bontempelli was huge against the Dockers at Marvel Stadium, dominating the opening half with 15 possessions and finishing the night with 33 disposals and two goals.
But the stalwart skipper had his right knee bandaged and looked worried in the stages of the game.
“At the position, our depth through that zone is a problem,” Beveridge said.
Tom Liberatore is expected to undergo minor knee surgery as he also deals with concussion, while injury-plagued Adam Treloar has suffered another blow and his availability is “disturbing”.
It would be nice to be able to do that (break Bontempelli), but we are not in a position to – look, I think quite easily with Marcus we may need to catch him this week. I don’t know.
“But we’re not going to take any chances if we think he’s going to get an injury, or he’s going to re-injure something. I mean, he was great for most of the game tonight … I saw him loosen up a little bit as the game went on, and I don’t like to see that.”
“Our depth through midfield is very thin right now, even Riley Garcia is still a few weeks away, and Cody Weightman can play some minutes there.
“It would be nice to be able to do that (resting Bontempelli), but we’re not in a position to – look, I think quite easily with Marcus we might need to catch him this week. I don’t know.
“But we’re not going to take any chances if we think he’s going to get an injury, or re-injure something. I mean, he was great for most of the game tonight.
“I saw him limping a little bit as the game went on, and I don’t like to see that. So we’ll deal with it in the week.”
Beveridge said the Bulldogs would lose Laitham Vandermeer with a hamstring complaint, and were dealing with Treloar’s latest problem after returning for last week’s clash against Sydney and missing this week.
Bulldogs selection said Treloar was ruled out for the Dockers clash.
“We’ve only given him a few days,” Beveridge said. “It’s disappointing. His body is letting him down a little bit. And I can’t give you more than that right now.
Beveridge was impressed with the Bulldogs’ ability to take it to the favorites Dockers, but said his team couldn’t find enough momentum in the second half.
They led by 26 points at quarter time and 14 points at halftime, but lost by two goals after a late comeback.
“They came at us a few times and kicked a few from the front 50,” he said.
“We couldn’t afford to give them 63 inside 50s tonight.”
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir drugged his players in the quarter to get them going.
“This seemed like a dangerous game to me,” Longmuir said.
“There was a lot of talk about the Bulldogs, how many injuries they’ve had, their level, they were injured and earlier in the week (Tim) English not playing, (Aaron) Naughton not playing, it felt like a dangerous game.
“I tried to make them aware of the intensity and desperation that the Dogs would play with and we weren’t ready for that fight. We were also careless.”
The AFL’s refereeing system came under fire in the third term when referees mistakenly sought to award a final touch to the wrong team.
The ball appeared to come off the boot of Bulldog Lachie McNeil before it crossed the boundary line, but a free kick was awarded to Fremantle’s Andrew Brayshaw. It led to a Bulldog goal.
Recently the ARC system was used to overturn these decisions. That has now been changed.
Brayshaw was again in the spotlight when he went to fellow fifth-teamer Josh Treacy after scoring in the last quarter, but poked his team-mate in the eye, and had to leave the field for 10 minutes.
At that point, Fremantle were up by 28 points and the Dogs kicked the next three goals.
The highlight of the night came from Docker Hayden Young who kicked the goal of the year contender with a beautiful 35 meter banana from the touchline.
Young scored three goals in the second half and together with Shai Bolton and Luke Jackson sparked Fremantle’s results. They have now won seven in a row and take on Hawthorn on Thursday night.
