SYDNEY coach Scott Gowans has confirmed that All-Australian ruck Ally Morphett's injury is in the same foot that she has been managing this year.
Morphett returned to the side after a fortnight on the sidelines, but was ruled out of the game during the third quarter after her right foot was stepped on during a contest in the Swans' seven-point loss to the Western Bulldogs on Friday.
BULLDOGS v SWANS Full match coverage and stats
The 20-year-old was helped off the ground in tears, but Gowans was hopeful the injury wasn't too serious.
"Ally will have a scan tomorrow, it's the same foot that she got trod on," Gowans said post-match.
"It's hard to tell on assessment whether it's actually something to do with her injuries that she's had, or whether it's just sore because someone stood on her foot. And the (doctor) just said to me that he's not happy to probe any further.
"We'd rather get the scan and then do it that way. Just the potential, obviously, is that if it's just been trod on, it's move on. But we're just going to be really ultra careful."
Without Morphett on the park for the final quarter, the Bulldogs ran over the top of Sydney to claim the win. Gowans bemoaned some of his side's decision-making and skill execution, particularly in the face of an already understrength side.
"We just made some silly decisions," Gowans said.
"It was frustrating because there's a clear way to play the Bulldogs, and we thought we executed that for most of the game, but when we lost that, the Bulldogs got momentum. We just didn't have the footy IQ across the field to be able to make the decisions to possess the ball and take our time."
The club opted to rest back up ruck/forward Giselle Davies, midfielder Montana Ham and key defender Brenna Tarrant for the match, with mid-week footy on the horizon.
Gowans said he doesn't regret that decision, with matches against 2023 finalists Essendon and Geelong in the next week.
"It's what you've got to do. There's just no way there we could get through three matches in two weeks with full squad, it just wouldn't happen," Gowans said.
"The decision would have been either this week or next week to make changes, and we chose this week to get it out of the way with the vision of getting through the next two games."
Despite their win, the Bulldogs weren't without an injury concern of their own, with ruck/forward Jorja Borg ruled out of the game in the first quarter with a serious knee injury.
"It doesn't look good at this stage," Western Bulldogs coach Tam Hyett said.
"She'll go in for scans tomorrow morning, so, yeah, not great."
