TALENTED Western Bulldogs forward Shaun Higgins could be sidelined for up to two months after scans revealed his injured ankle is worse than originally thought.
The 2007 NAB AFL Rising Star nominee will undergo surgery to remove bone fragments from the ankle after sustaining the injury in the Bulldogs' Saturday win over Melbourne.
"The scans showed up a few bone chips so it now looks like he will be six to eight weeks," club football operations manager James Fantasia said in The Age.
"They are going to look to operate on it to clean it out. There is a bone sheet on the ankle that has fragmented and pieces have chipped off so that needs to be cleaned up.
"He came down very heavily on it and it was significant impact on the ankle."
Higgins landed awkwardly after contesting for a mark and significantly rolled the ankle before being helped from the field deep into the third quarter.
The 20-year-old is in his third season at the club, and last year played 20 games for a return of 26 goals. He managed only five games in his debut year after fracturing his elbow in round 13.
The Bulldogs are a chance to regain last week's late withdrawal in Nathan Eagleton for Friday night's clash with St Kilda, coach Rodney Eade claiming the experienced midfielder is a "good chance" to play.
Meanwhile, Essendon's unlucky wingman Courtenay Dempsey will miss two to three weeks after twinging his hamstring for the fifth time in 12 months at the weekend. Essendon team manager David Calthorpe said in The Age that the injury was "a very, very minor setback" for the 20-year-old.
Calthorpe also said emerging key position prospect Scott Gumbleton is "pretty much ready to go" with running, but will be held back owing to recurrent hamstring problems.
The Bulldogs face St Kilda on Friday night at Telstra Dome in the opening match of Rivalry Round, while the Bombers play Carlton at the MCG on Saturday night.
