LUKE BEVERIDGE has admitted he may be forced to rest his captain Marcus Bontempelli in the coming weeks, despite a courageous performance in the Western Bulldogs' 12-point loss to Fremantle on Friday evening.

Bontempelli was the star for the Dogs, and very nearly pulled them over the line after the Dockers mounted an almighty comeback, finishing with a game-high 33 disposals and two goals. But he did it all while carrying the burden of a heavily strapped right knee.

BULLDOGS v DOCKERS Full match coverage and stats

"It'd be nice to be able to (rest Bontempelli)… Quite simply with Marcus, we might need to rest him this week, I don’t know, but we won't take any risks if we think he's going to get sore or he's going to re-injure something." Beveridge said.

"I mean, he was quite outstanding for most of the game tonight, but you’re seeing him limp a bit, I saw him limp a bit as the game went on and (I) don't like to see that. So we'll work through it during the week…that would be a great challenge for the rest of the group if we lose him for a week or two."

It comes on the heels of yet another injury to the stretched Dogs, with Laitham Vandermeer picking up a hamstring concern in his first game of the season.

"Laitham will be out for a while, we won’t know the extent of that injury until we see the radiologist," Beveridge said.

He is, however, hopeful that Connor Budarick will return from his own hamstring injury for next week’s away fixture against Port Adelaide.

All of the Dogs' injury concerns were at the front of Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir's mind throughout the week, as the clash shaped as a potential banana peel for the in-form Dockers.

"It felt like a danger game to me, a lot of talk about the Bulldogs, how many injuries they've got, their form. Yeah, they're wounded… it just felt like a danger game," Longmuir said.

"(I) tried to make them really aware of the intensity and the desperation that the Dogs were going to play with."

Down by 26 points at quarter-time, Longmuir was animated with his players, spurring on a gradual comeback from the visiting side.

"(The Bulldogs') intensity was at a level greater than ours. (I) thought our pressure was horrific early, missed tackles, gave away free kicks in tackles, and then proud of the way we fought back," Longmuir said.

"I think back to this time last year, we’d get off to a bad start and we can’t find a way to fight back into the game, and it could have easily gone that way, but I think in those situations when we find ourselves behind in games, we’re able to stay a lot calmer, more composed, and then fight our way back into games."

He pointed to the class of Hayden Young in the front half of the ground as reason enough to keep him off the half-back line, and the virtue of limiting Luke Jackson's ruck minutes so he can remain damaging until the final siren.

Captain Alex Pearce spent some time away from the main group during the final break getting his right shoulder and left toe looked at, but played out the game without issue, while key forward Josh Treacy was cleared to continue following a celebration mishap that saw him leave the field under the blood rule.