Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli is in a race to be fit for his side’s preliminary final date with Port Adelaide next week after picking up a knee injury.
Bontempelli finished the Bulldogs’ pulsating semi-final win over the Brisbane Lions on the bench after landing awkwardly following a marking contest in the final minutes.
As the clock ticked down, the Brownlow Medal favourite was seen grimacing as trainers worked feverishly on his knee and he was not able to get back onto the ground.
Following the match, where he finished with 29 disposals, Bontempelli admitted that a decision was made to get him off the ground due to the injury hampering his running ability.
“Should be alright. Initial tests are pretty good,” he told the Seven Network.
“I was a bit ginger initially, so rather than limp out there the right thing to do was make a change.”
Following the match, Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said the team was unsure whether Bontempelli would be fit for the preliminary final, with the star midfielder set to undergo scans on his knee.
“He just copped a knock to the back of his knee,” Beveridge said.
“It’s difficult to know the extent of any injury. He’s obviously a little bit sore, but we’ll have a little bit of time before we can assess it. We’ll probably get a scan once we get to Perth and see if there’s any damage in there.”
Bontempelli was full of praise for his teammates after they got the job done in what proved to be some of the most tense football of the season.
“It’s what we need to do, it’s what the game asked of us,” he said.
“We know what a quality outfit Brisbane are. At different points we thought we were going to extra time.
“I’m sure it was good viewing. This was the perfect example of what a finals game is like. You can’t be more proud.”
The knee injury to Bontempelli is one of two injury headaches to come out of the match for the Bulldogs after Cody Weightman was subbed off at half-time with what was officially called a “head knock” by the club.
Weightman picked up the knock in the final seconds of the second quarter when he was left sprawled on the turf after running into Brisbane defender Marcus Adams while watching the football in the air.
The official terminology of the injury is interesting, due to the fact that had the Bulldogs officially subbed out the dynamic forward with a concussion, he would automatically miss next week’s match due to the AFL’s current concussion protocols.