Dale Morris' AFL career is in jeopardy after the Western Bulldogs veteran broke both bones in his forearm in their thumping 54-point win over Gold Coast on Saturday.
The 34-year-old's wretched run with injury continued in the second quarter at Cazalys Stadium when he fell awkwardly in a marking contest with Suns captain Tom Lynch.
It is likely to end his season and could spell the end of the road for Morris, who famously played through last year's finals series with a fractured vertebrae.
"It's unfortunate, he's been such a sensational player for a long time," coach Luke Beveridge said.
"It's a pretty serious injury."
Morris indicated earlier this month he was keen to play on in 2018 but his latest setback could change the landscape.
"We've got to work through all that with Dale and work out whether it's right for him and right for the club," Beveridge said.
"We'll get him right with his arm over the next few weeks and we'll talk about those things a bit later."
Morris' injury soured the Bulldogs' 16.14 (110) to 8.8 (56) win, their first outside of Victoria this season and biggest against the Suns in Cairns.
It leaves the reigning premiers in 11th position, but they are now outside the top eight only on percentage.
The Bulldogs led by eight points at the first change after kicking into a strong breeze and then used it to their advantage in the second term to increase the margin to 20 points at half-time.
But the Suns, who were without midfield stars Gary Ablett (hamstring) and Jarryd Lyons (ankle) and lost key defender Rory Thompson just before the match, would not go away.
They kicked four of the next five goals - two of them from gun rookie Ben Ainsworth - to close within one point.
But that was as close as they got.
Liam Picken's fifth goal - he finished with a career-best haul of six - reversed the momentum before the Bulldogs put the game to bed with another seven unanswered goals to delight the crowd of 9364.
The Suns scored just one behind in the last quarter.
"With an inexperienced, undermanned defence, we tired a bit around the ball," coach Rodney Eade said.
"That's where they got on top. We couldn't spread like they could, we started making a lot more errors with fatigue.
"That's an area we as a club have got to improve, our ability to run out games."
Meanwhile, Bulldogs forward Jack Redpath could come under match review panel scrutiny for jumper-punching Lynch in a scuffle after the quarter-time siren.
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