Fremantle are bracing to be without Brennan Cox for at least the next three months with a hamstring injury, amid the brutal toll of their round-one win over the Brisbane Lions.
Cox, Oscar McDonald (knee) and Karl Worner (concussion) all failed to finish the Dockers' surprise 23-point victory at Optus Stadium on Sunday.
Versatile tall Cox suffered a serious right hamstring injury as he led for a pass during the final quarter and tumbled to the turf.
He saw a surgeon on Monday and faces a long road back to action.
"It looks like he'll need surgery on that hamstring to be able to repair it," Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir told Fox Footy on Monday night.
"I'm not a doctor but it's somewhere between 12 to 15 weeks, I would imagine."
New recruit McDonald went down clutching at his left knee in the dying stages of the third quarter after suffering an ugly hyperextension while landing.
"He's got a little bit going on in that knee," Longmuir said.
"I'm not going to say what it could be, because it could be a number of things at the moment. I've got my fingers and toes crossed for him.
"It was his first game at the club and he was playing a really important role for us and has had a super pre-season. Hopefully we get a better result there."
Worner was taken off the ground on a stretcher during the third quarter after copping a sickening incidental hit to the head while trying to mark a ball.
"He'll enter the concussion protocols and we'll take it day by day with him and see how long it takes," Longmuir said.
"We all know that concussion is a tricky one so we'll take it easy on him for the first few days and see how he responds."
Brisbane also suffered blows in the same game but are yet to confirm the extent of Darcy Gardiner's suspected posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury and Conor McKenna's hamstring issue.
Meanwhile, Essendon coach Brad Scott confirmed he will have to make three forced changes to his team for Saturday night's clash with unbeaten Sydney, revealing Matt Guelfi will miss with a calf injury.
"Doctors tell me it's minor but it's major enough to miss," Scott told Fox Footy on Monday night.
Guelfi joins key defender Zach Reid (hamstring strain) on the sidelines after last Saturday's 24-point win over Hawthorn, while the Bombers have accepted Mason Redman's one-match ban for striking Hawk Jai Newcombe.
Highly-rated Reid was the 10th overall pick at the 2020 draft but has managed just nine senior games while battling a series of injuries.
"We've been ultra conservative with him (throughout his career) and he's got a minor hamstring," Scott said.
"It's not serious but for Reidy at the moment our view is there's no such thing as a minor hamstring for him.
"We've got to be really, really patient with him and it's really frustrating."
