Influential midfielder Ed Richards will soon have scans as the Western Bulldogs count a hefty cost of their 42-point drubbing from Hawthorn.
Richards injured his right ankle during the Dogs’ first defeat of the season.
The creative on-baller hobbled off Adelaide Oval in obvious pain during Hawthorn’s 14.14 (98) to 7.14 (56) win on Saturday night.
“We don’t know the extent of it yet,” Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said.
“We will have a look at it through the imaging … we’re just hoping it’s not too bad, but I can’t give you anything until the medical staff give us something definitive.”
Any long-term loss of Richards would be keenly felt by the Dogs and compound the absence of ruckman Tim English.
Hawk ruck duo Ned Reeves and Lloyd Meek dominated hit outs 64-17 against a Dogs outfit sorely missing English.
Bulldogs boss Beveridge said the club still don’t have a precise timeline on English’s return from a knee ligament injury.
“It will be probably be mid-next week, they’re just waiting for it to settle to give you that prediction,” he said.
Without ruckman English, Hawk duo Ned Reeves and Lloyd Meek dominated hit outs 64-17.
“They had 21 hit-outs to advantage to our three,” Beveridge lamented.
“So that’s a really difficult thing for our midfield group to deal with.
‘I thought the boys did reasonably well, when you consider how many hit-outs to advantage they had.
“It highlights the importance of that part of the game, if you have got a ruckman or ruckmen that have some dominance.”
The Hawks also depart Adelaide with a concern after key forward Mabior Chol limped off in the first quarter because of a hamstring injury.
“There’s a part of me that hopes it was really precautionary and he’s just cramped up or something,” Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell said.
“But when a guy who is as big and as strong and as powerful as he is comes off with a grab of his hamstring, then doesn’t come back on … we’ll wait for scans and get a vibe of that over the next few days.”