The Western Bulldogs will be without key defender Liam Jones for at least two months after suffering a forearm fracture against North Melbourne.

Jones was subbed out of the game early in the opening quarter, and underwent surgery yesterday to repair two separate breaks.

“Liam received a kick to his forearm – this trauma has caused two separate breaks in the radius bone,” Bulldogs’ Head of Sports Medicine, Chris Bell, said.

“He had surgery yesterday to insert a large plate along his forearm to stabilise both fractures.

“We will confirm his return to play timeline over the coming weeks, but expect him to miss the next 8-10 games.”

Fellow defenders Tim O’Brien and Hayden Crozier will also be sidelined for the next two months, after both sustained hamstring injuries in their respective matches.

“Both Tim in the AFL game and Hayden in the VFL game sustained hamstring injuries,” Bell said.

“Scans confirmed that they have both suffered moderate to high grade injuries, that will see them miss the next few months of football.”

Utilities Roarke Smith (foot) and Harvey Gallagher (finger) have suffered further setbacks too.

“At the start of the season, Roarke battled a tear to a structure in his foot called the plantar fascia,” Bell said.

“These symptoms improved, and after building some continuity in his training, Roarke returned to play over the last few weeks but unfortunately, has had a reaggravation of these symptoms during last week.

“We’ll wait until Roarke’s symptoms settle and get an idea of how his foot tolerates reloading, before we look to set a definitive timeline for him to return to play.

“Harvey was also needing to be managed by our upper limb surgeon yesterday after suffering a break to one of the knuckles in his hand.

“This injury happened in the VFL game and required surgery to align the fracture. The surgery went well, and we expect Harvey to return to playing in the next month.”

In more positive injury news, trio Sam Darcy (jaw), Riley Garcia (groin) and Dom Bedendo (groin) are on track to exit the rehab group.

“Sam, Dom and Riley all have some boxes to tick over the next 10 days,” Bell said.

“We are optimistic that they remain on track to return to availability for the game following our midseason break.”

Injury list

Sam Darcy (jaw) – Test
Riley Garcia (groin) – Test
Dom Bedendo (groin) – Test
Ed Richards (hamstring) – 3-4 weeks
Harvey Gallagher (finger) – 3-4 weeks
Jason Johannisen (hamstring) – 4-5 weeks
Toby McLean (lower back) - 4-6 weeks
Tim O’Brien (hamstring) – 8-9 weeks
Liam Jones (forearm) - 8-10 weeks
Hayden Crozier (hamstring) – 8-10 weeks
Roarke Smith (foot) – Indefinite