Fremantle star Michael Walters’ season is in doubt after he injured his left knee in Saturday night’s 52-point loss to Hawthorn.
The livewire pulled up short as he ran to a marking contest on the wing early in the final quarter and immediately hobbled to the bench.
Walters, 26, appears to have has damaged his posterior cruciate ligament.
“It’s a PCL and they can have different degrees of severity so we’ll keep our fingers crossed,” Fremantle coach Ross Lyon said.
“Clearly he’s incredibly important to us and we’ll look after him.
“It’s certainly not career-threatening. He’s had one before on the other side, and they’re not ideal longer-term as you get older, but he’ll tend to bounce and get back.”
Walters, who played in the 2013 Grand Final with a sore left PCL, was one of several Dockers stars who were held in check on Saturday night.
The All Australian contender had 10 touches, while David Mundy (21), Nat Fyfe (23, one goal) and Lachie Neale (27) couldn’t exert their usual influence.
“At the minute we feel like we’re a bit reliant on our very senior core,” Lyon said.
“When they’re just a little bit down the others are struggling to pick up that slack and step up a little bit.
“There’s some great lessons for our younger group tonight really about how tough and ruthless this competition is.”
The Dockers were given the run around by the Hawks, who had 90 more disposals and were slicker with ball in hand.
“We felt like we regressed tonight,” Lyon said.
“The start was disappointing for all concerned.
“The first seven possession gains they had they had six entries and scored 4.2.
“Our ability to run with them and hold them up and deny them and slow them down and stop them getting inside (50m) and scoring (was disappointing).”
Freo has struggled to hit the scoreboard recently and Lyon declared it was “abundantly clear” the Dockers lacked a power forward.
They have averaged fewer than 10 goals in the last seven games – and lost six of them – and losing youngster Brennan Cox to a club-imposed ban put more pressure on Cam McCarthy and Shane Kersten (two goals each) against Hawthorn.
Matt Taberner has booted 13 goals in the WAFL in the past three matches and averaged 25 disposals and 11 marks, but Lyon said the tall forward has elements of his game to work on.
“You’ve all seen Matthew play previously. There’s no saviour here, Matthew’s got plenty of things to work on in his game,” Lyon said.
“He’s no silver bullet for us.”
Cox and defender Luke Ryan were both omitted for the Hawks clash after going out and drinking following last Sunday's loss to West Coast when the Dockers had a six-day break between games.
Their omission came less than a month after Connor Blakely was omitted a game for leaving the club’s headquarters early due to illness, and going surfing the next day on the players' day off.
“They’re slightly different issues,” Lyon said. “It’s the players’ policy and requirements, not mine.
“My job is to support the player group. There’s no draconian measures here.
“On six day breaks just get ready. On seven-day breaks you can basically go and do what you want but look after yourself and carry yourself well.
“We all make slight mistakes, but we’d like to think we’re trying to build something strong.”
