Western Bulldogs warrior Dale Morris will do everything he can to return from an ACL injury that has threatened to end his AFL career.
The premiership hero injured his left knee at training last Friday, with scans confirming the terrible news for the 36-year-old.
But Morris will not have surgery on his knee, instead going into a splint in the hope the injury heals in time for a mid-season return.
It is a similar recovery method to when Morris injured the ACL in his other knee last year.
"Not once have I thought, 'maybe this is it'," Morris said.
"That's just not in my DNA. I want to play for as long as I can, and this doesn't change that.
"I'll be doing everything I can to get back, because I just love playing for this football club so much.
"We're going to be aiming for around that mid-year mark, (but) it could blow out, it could come in, we've just got to wait and see how it goes."
The Bulldogs' medical team have faith in their method of getting Morris back out on the park.
"We will assess the stability and degree of healing of the cruciate again in four to six weeks to determine when he can come out of the splint," club medical manager Chris Bell said.
"It's also at this time that we will get a clearer idea of his return to play timeline."
Morris has played 252 games for the Bulldogs since debuting in 2005 and famously played the entire 2016 finals series with a broken back as the club broke a 62-year premiership drought.
