HAYDEN Ballantyne is highly unlikely to play in Saturday night's semi-final against Port Adelaide following surgery on his broken jaw.
Ballantyne went under the knife on Monday to fix the jaw fracture he suffered in Saturday's qualifying final loss to the Sydney Swans at ANZ Stadium.
Dockers coach Ross Lyon told 6PR on Monday night his livewire forward would be desperate to play, however the long-term risks might out-weigh the short-term gain.
"I've got duty of care for Hayden," Lyon said.
"It'd have to be exceptional circumstances for him to play to be truthful."
Ballantyne suffered a similar injury against Port Adelaide in round eight. On that occasion he underwent minor surgery midweek and was able to play against Geelong in round nine.
But Lyon was doubtful Ballantyne could do it again.
"He's done it before earlier this year but I don't know if this is a more significant injury or not," Lyon said.
"Once we get all the facts, we'll give him all week. The intention is to look after Hayden.
"We're about bigger picture here as well, not just sacrificing our players for a short-term gain. He's really important to us."
Matt de Boer and Nick Suban loom as the likely options to replace Ballantyne in the Dockers' line-up. Hayden Crozier started as the sub last week and will be considered to start on-field against Port Adelaide.
There were also fears for Michael Barlow this week after the Dockers midfielder was on crutches on the flight home from Sydney. But Lyon said he was confident Barlow would be fine despite some initial concerns.
"He's had a sore foot or toe and they were a bit worried about it," Lyon said.
"He was a bit worried about it after the game but he said today they've got it in a moon boot as a precaution. I'm really quite confident that he'd get up."
Lyon also revealed that Danyle Pearce had been vomiting on the trip to Sydney on Friday. Pearce was subbed out during the third term with just eight touches to his name.
"Something went through him in 24 hours," Lyon said.
"He put his hand up to play. He didn't have his best day but we'd expect him to have a better day this week."
Lyon said Luke McPharlin was unlikely to return this week from his calf injury that has kept him out since round 20.
"He's on a program and is progressing," Lyon said.
"I would think he'd more than likely, if we were fortunate enough to earn our way through, be available for the following week.
"But if we start looking to the next week we'll get ‘pantsed’ this week."
