LIN JONG'S worst fears have been confirmed, with the Western Bulldogs midfielder requiring a knee reconstruction that will see him miss the rest of the season.
Jong suffered the injury in his right knee on Sunday when Melbourne co-captain Nathan Jones smothered the Bulldog's kick in the first quarter.
The Dogs went on to lose by 57 points.
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Jong, 24, will have a traditional reconstruction.
"I'm afraid today that scans have confirmed our fear that Lin Jong has ruptured his ACL," club physiotherapist Chris Bell told westernbulldogs.com.au.
"We're all devastated for Jongy and we'll put a really strong support network around him.
"He'll undergo a conventional hamstring tendon reconstruction later this week but we look forward to seeing Jongy back into some football in the early parts of 2018."
Jong told reporters outside a scanning clinic in Prahran on Monday it was tough to deal with.
"It's obviously pretty upsetting. I was pretty devastated at the time," Jong said.
"I'm just kind of processing it. I've got a lot of texts of support and advice just to take it day-by-day, so that's kind of what I'm doing at the moment."
Jong injured his right shoulder during the Dogs' stirring elimination final win over West Coast and recovered to be named best on ground in last year's VFL Grand Final. However, it wasn't enough for him to win a spot back for the club's premiership victory a week later.
He has played every match this season.
In better news for the Dogs, skipper Bob Murphy is back in the main group after knee surgery and a hamstring setback.
"He has nearly ticked of his full speed and has resumed some modified training with the group," Bell said.
"At the moment he's on track to resume in the next one to two weeks and we'll work with Bob this week to determine when that is."
The Bulldogs are sitting in ninth spot at 6-6.
Premiership backman Fletcher Roberts is in doubt to play this week after he suffered concussion in the VFL last Saturday night against the Casey Demons
"We'll put Fletcher through our normal concussion processes this week to determine his availability to play this weekend," Bell said.
