Fremantle are sweating on the fitness of Luke Jackson after the star big man was among numerous Dockers injury concerns in the club's 16-point AFL win over the Western Bulldogs.
Jackson (hamstring), Nathan O'Driscoll (ankle) and Corey Wagner (calf) all suffered game-ending injuries in the third quarter of Sunday's 15.7 (97) to 12.9 (81) win at Optus Stadium.
Jaeger O'Meara was also battling soreness, leaving Fremantle with just one rotation on the bench for most of the last term.
The loss of Jackson (30 hitouts) was a particularly big blow, given he was winning the ruck battle against Tim English.
The Bulldogs trailed by 32 points at halftime, but clawed the margin back to 10 points on the back of Sam Darcy's five-goal haul before Dockers youngster Murphy Reid kicked the sealer to the delight of the 41,491-strong crowd.
Darcy was huge for the Bulldogs with 5.0 and 11 marks from 21 disposals, while English (40 hitouts) dominated after Jackson went out of the game.
Ex-Docker Rory Lobb, who dyed a red lobster on his head for his return to his former stomping ground, was booed every time he touched the ball, but held up well in defence.
Caleb Serong (38 disposals, 15 clearances) dominated in the midfield for Fremantle, while Josh Treacy and Michael Frederick kicked three goals apiece.
The result improved Freo's record to 2-2 ahead of next Sunday's Gather Round clash with struggling Richmond, while the Bulldogs (2-2) face defending premiers Brisbane at Norwood Oval on Saturday.
"We think it's a hammy. We think it's low grade," Dockers coach Justin Longmuir said of Jackson's injury.
"So like all these things we'll get a scan, but it's not significant.
"You might have seen him trying to test it at three-quarter time, so that's an indicator that it's not significant."
The Bulldogs won the inside 50m count 63-44 but couldn't capitalise on their opportunities.
"It's frustrating," Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said.
"Sometimes it spills over to more extreme emotions.
"When you get beaten, I like to give the opposition credit where it's due, but nearly everything's green (in the stats for us), other than the scoreboard, and they had a few more tackles than us."
The Bulldogs dominated the inside-50 count 19-8 and overall possessions 117-68 in the opening term, with Darcy setting the tone with two goals, three contested marks and 10 disposals.
But remarkably it was Fremantle who led by two points at the first change, highlighted by two goals to Frederick and a shake-and-bake goal from Shai Bolton, who burned off Bailey Williams before kicking truly.
Darcy kicked his third early in the second term and the Bulldogs led by five points with seven minutes remaining in the half, before Fremantle turned the match on its head.
The Dockers kicked six unanswered goals in a scintillating finish to the term to take a 32-point lead into halftime.
The 'Dogs made it a scrappier affair in the third quarter, and Fremantle fans vented their frustrations as the free kick count ballooned to 18-9 in favour of the visitors.
Fremantle headed to the final change with a 24-point lead, but they had to dig deep given their mounting injuries.
"I was just really proud of how we hung on," Longmuir said.
"We had some sore boys that just had to give us something or give us a rotation, but also we had players that had to give us a whole last quarter when they would usually have a rotation."
The Bulldogs subbed out Laitham Vandermeer (knee) in the second term.
