Western Bulldogs star Adam Treloar will have surgery for an ankle injury, ruling him out for six to eight weeks.
Treloar injured his ankle in the second quarter of Saturday night's 111-point win over St Kilda and was subbed out of the game.
The club on Monday confirmed a syndesmosis ligament injury.
“We’ve decided the best way to manage this injury is to operate to stabilise the ligament,” Bulldogs head of sports medicine Chris Bell told westernbulldogs.com.au.
“This will get him back playing sooner and avoid ongoing complications.
“We will confirm his timeframe to return to play following the surgery but expect him to miss the 6-8 weeks of footy.”
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Treloar's injury mattered little as the Bulldogs returned to the top of the ladder with a percentage boosting win over St Kilda.
The win sets up a mouth-watering clash against Melbourne next week as the winner will go a game clear at the top of the ladder.
Marcus Bontempelli again put his name down as a potential Brownlow Medalist by collecting 26 disposals and kicking four goals, while Aaron Naughton kicked 5.4.