THE WESTERN Bulldogs will sweat on the availability of Jordan Roughead for next week's Grand Final after the big man suffered a suspected eye injury in Saturday's preliminary final win over Greater Western Sydney.
Roughead left the ground for treatment after bearing the full brunt of a ball kicked into his face in the second quarter.
Reports at half-time suggested he had bleeding in the right eye and that the club had called for an eye specialist to come to the ground.
Roughead took no further part in the match.
Five things we learned: Giants v Bulldogs
The Dogs are hopeful he will be right to face the Sydney Swans after performing admirably for much of the season as a stand-in ruckman.
Giants co-captain Callan Ward also missed most of the match after being heavily concussed in the second quarter.
Ward was collected in the side of the head by a knee in a marking contest, and lay dazed on the Spotless Stadium turf for minutes as doctors and trainers attended to him.
Assistance was required to get the tough midfielder off the ground, and he saw out the last half on the bench.
Leon Cameron accepted that the loss of Ward hurt his team, but that both sides suffered equally on the injury front.
“(It's) disappointing to lose your skipper early. He’s obviously a really good leader of our footy club, he cracks in, he helps our clearances," Cameron said after the match.
“But, I mean, they lost Roughead as well, so it evens it out - 21 players took on 21 players for two-and-a-half quarters."
And Bulldogs star Marcus Bontempelli was also labouring with a suspected hip complaint after receiving a knock in the third term. He was treated on the sidelines before returning to the field, shrugging off any discomfort to kick a crucial goal in the final quarter.
Jordan Roughead is in doubt to return after this painful incident earlier. #AFLFinals https://t.co/PpEb9kALvq
— AFL (@AFL) September 24, 2016