THE WESTERN Bulldogs' gritty 11-point win over Carlton has been soured by two potentially serious injuries, with defender Dale Morris possibly suffering a broken jaw.
Morris copped a whack to the face in a first-quarter marking contest at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night, but bravely played out the rest of the match.
Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge fears the 190cm veteran – who only returned last week after missing eight games with a torn pectoral – could be sidelined alongside youngster Toby McLean.
Click here for full match coverage and stats
McLean badly damaged the AC joint in his left shoulder late in the match after a crunching Dylan Buckley tackle.
Meanwhile, vice-captain Jordan Roughead is under a cloud after he was substituted out of the Dogs' eighth win for the season at half-time with a jarred back.
The Dogs have consolidated their spot in the top eight – moving up to seventh with an 8-5 record – and a fairytale finals berth looms on the horizon, but Beveridge said the young side's hopes of a strong finish to the season could hinge on their injury toll.
"They've achieved a hell of a lot in the early stanzas and now we just hope that we can endure and come on in the back end," Beveridge said.
"There's no doubt it (finals) hangs out in the abyss and we haven't spoken about it. Obviously it's everyone's goal to get there, but there's a long way to go.
"We're a chance to lose three players – a chance – through injury from this game and that's not ideal because you do need some good fortune with injury.
"Dale Morris has obviously just come back from injury, but he's been injured tonight. He showed enormous courage but he's a chance to have a broken jaw, Dale. All you can do is just laud that sort of courage.
"That's how we won tonight, on spirit and courage. We'll need to hold it together physically to continue our journey, but we won't talk about it too much. We'll just hope the footy gods smile on us a little bit with that."
WATCH: Luke Beveridge's full post-match media conference
Beveridge said McLean's AC issue was "a bad one", but it was too early to tell if Roughead's back complaint would sideline him for next week's clash against Gold Coast in Cairns.
"I'm not sure of the extent of it but it was bad enough for him to be really struggling at half-time," Beveridge said.
"We felt that even though it was risky we needed to pull the trigger on the sub then and chart a course for the second half."
The Dogs' bold move paid immediate dividends, with the League's shortest player Caleb Daniel ripping off the green vest and starring in the third term.
The helmeted 167cm pocket dynamo sparked the Dogs, gathering nine touches and booting a team-lifting major as Beveridge's outfit eked out a 15-point lead at the final change after trailing by three points at half-time.
WATCH: Pocket rocket's mighty impact
"He had a real impact, didn't he? He played an important role in generating what we needed to generate to actually start hitting the scoreboard," Beveridge said.
"He's not over-blessed with height, but he makes up for it in a lot of areas. We hope that he's got a really long career at our club. Tonight's the start of his journey and he performed outstandingly well."
