Stewart Crameri's persistent hip injury has officially ended his AFL season, leaving the Western Bulldogs forward with just two games to his name this year after missing all of 2016 due to his doping ban stemming from former club Essendon's supplements program.
The Bulldogs have confirmed that Crameri, 28, would aim to be ready for the 2018 pre-season after having hip surgery earlier this week.
It has been a slightly disjointed premiership defence for the Bulldogs so far as they juggled various injuries and tried to fit in both Crameri and former Collingwood forward Travis Cloke to their forward line.
But the Bulldogs made a statement at the selection table on Thursday by dropping Cloke, fellow forward Jack Redpath and Lukas Webb.
The Dogs have, as expected, included a ruckman; it's not premiership player Jordan Roughead, but youngster Tim English. Roughead has been named as an emergency, having returned to the VFL earlier this month after a long lay-off with a hamstring injury. Jake Stringer and Shane Biggs also return, while midfielder Tom Liberatore remains on the outer.
This year Cloke and fellow forwards Stringer and Tory Dickson have had to overcome complaints.
Dickson played his first game for 2017 in last Friday night's loss to Geelong at Simonds Stadium. Cloke also came back for the game against the Cats after suffering a rib injury against North Melbourne in round four. Stringer has been out for the past two matches with a knee injury.
Crameri managed to play in the Bulldogs' opening two matches but had been plagued by hip soreness since.
"While the surgery to improve Stewart's hip was quite extensive, we are confident that it will dramatically improve Stewart's function and performance," Bulldogs medical services manager Chris Bell told the club's website.
"It's disappointing for both the club and Stewart, but we will support Stewart and put a comprehensive rehabilitation program around him to give him every opportunity to have a full pre-season heading into 2018."
