The Western Bulldogs are optimistic Aaron Naughton has avoided serious damage to his neck after a sickening fall in their 11-goal drubbing to Sydney, but the club’s injury crisis has worsened.
Naughton will undergo scans on his neck on Friday and, though he showed no early signs of concussion immediately after the Dogs’ latest thumping at Marvel Stadium, he is in doubt to face Fremantle next week.
The Dogs were dealt another setback with key defender Rory Lobb’s hamstring injury worse than initially thought – and set to rule him out for a month – while ruckman Tim English is expected to miss at least another match.
On top of the ladder just over a fortnight ago, the injury-ravaged Dogs are a shadow of the side that was the last team to taste defeat this season, and have now lost their past three games by a total of 181 points.
The Swans capitalised on the massive holes created by the Bulldogs’ injuries. A week after Geelong star Jeremy Cameron slammed home 10 goals against their undermanned defence, missing Lobb and James O’Donnell, Charlie Curnow and Joel Amartey booted seven goals and three respectively.
The pair were far too good for the undersized Buku Khamis and Ryan Gardner, the latter playing just his second senior game since late 2023.
Ruckman Brodie Grundy capitalised on English’s absence with 35 hitouts, 18 possessions and two goals in a starring performance.
Naughton landed on his head and neck after flipping midair attempting a high mark on Jai Serong deep in the Bulldogs’ forward line in the third quarter. He was tended to by medical staff, who placed a brace around his neck, before he was driven down the race into the rooms on a motorised stretcher.
He was walking in the rooms and not wearing a brace after the game, but was expected to spend Thursday night with his parents.
“He’s gonna go home now, and he’ll have his neck looked at tomorrow and [we’ll] get back to you on it,” Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said. “He appears to have strained down that side of his neck from the incident.
“The bright side is there are no signs of concussion, but we’ll have to report in once we get something more definitive from a scan.”
Naughton’s injury comes a week after Sam Darcy suffered a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament tear. Without their twin towers in attack, the Dogs finished the game with a pair of third-gamers Will Lewis and Louis Emmett filling the key forward posts.
The Dogs had harboured hope Lobb would be available to face the Swans, but he felt sore in another part of his hamstring at training during the week and was sent for more scans, which revealed a more serious injury.
“Something showed up as a bit risky, and so we’ll need to be conservative with him,” Beveridge said.
“The initial signs were that he got a knock, [and] bit of bleeding, probably from that. But then subsequently, in another spot, he had some discomfort so we went out to look at that, and it showed up something that could turn into something worse. He’ll be out for a good month as well.”
Beveridge said English did not move well at training “so I wouldn’t think that he’s available next week”.
The Bulldogs made a fast start with the first three goals of the game, and trailed by only 13 points at the long break but were steamrolled in the second half.
Skipper Marcus Bontempelli addressed the players in the rooms for about five minutes after the game – on the night he and his 2016 premiership teammates were to celebrate the 10-year reunion from that year’s triumph over Sydney. He was visibly frustrated during the game on Thursday night and had an animated discussion with Matt Kennedy on the field after the half-time siren, and was also vocal as he led his players off the field for the break.
Kennedy (15 disposals) and Ed Richards (18) were among the senior Dogs who had off nights.
“He’s an influencer, he’s an authority, he’s a powerful character, and he wants to take people with him,” Beveridge said of his captain. “His expectations are high, no matter who’s playing with him.
“He wants things now, and he’s pushing to get it. We all need to understand what we can influence and control, and he’s working through that in his own leadership capacity.
“He’s always a tremendous support for his teammates, but on nights like this, there was always going to be an element of frustration with everything, with everyone, and he’s probably feeling a fair bit of that.”
Injuries to their stars have exposed the depth on the Dogs’ list, forcing Beveridge to play eight players with fewer than 15 games’ experience.
He has the difficult task of convincing young pups like Jedd Busslinger, Lewis and Emmett they can contribute to Bulldogs victories while knowing full well his team is significantly weakened by their lengthy injury list.
“I think it’s the two c-words – capacity and capability,” Beveridge said. “We’ve got a lot of boys who haven’t played a lot of footy yet, and they’re just finding out what AFL footy is about.
“Form ends up being linked to those things.
“And sometimes that’s linked to inexperience. You still need your more experienced players to give you a bit more of a chance, and we just didn’t quite have enough influence there tonight.”
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