The Western Bulldogs beat Brisbane by the solitary point to advance to the preliminary final where they will take on Port Adelaide.
In what was a game of the year contender, the Bulldogs took the lead with just under a minute to go and held on for an incredible victory against the odds.
Those odds were made all the more difficult in the final minutes as skipper Marcus Bontempelli went off with a knee injury after his knee smashed into the ground after a marking contest.
He immediately grabbed for his knee before he was taken from the ground.
Speaking after the game, Bontempelli said the knee felt fine despite him looking to be in clear pain when on the bench.
"Initial tests and whatnot are pretty good, just landed quite awkwardly and then a big fella across the leg,” he said on Seven post-game.
"It should be alright... just landed kinda awkwardly."
– Marcus Bontempelli on his apparent knee injury pic.twitter.com/farbjsCFGY
— 7AFL (@7AFL) September 4, 2021
“I was a bit ginger initially so rather than limping around out there, probably the right thing was to interchange.”
It seems the worst case scenario would be a PCL injury that would see Bontempelli's season over.
Coach Luke Beveridge said that the Dogs were hopeful their inspirational leader would be available for the trip to Adelaide.
“He just copped a knock to the back of his knee,” Beveridge said.
“It’s difficult to know the extent of any injury. He’s obviously a little bit sore, but we’ll have a little bit of time before we can assess it.”
Bontempelli wasn't the Dogs only injury concern with small forward Cody Weightman taken out of the game at half-time with a head knock.
Crucially, the Weightman wasn't ruled out with concussion meaning he may be a chance to play next week.
