Orthopaedic surgeon David Young will examine Murphy’s left knee today after the Bulldogs great – who turns 34 in June – sustained considerable damage to his anterior cruciate ligament during the final minute of yesterday’s three-point loss to Hawthorn.

Regardless of the prognosis, Beveridge does not think he has seen the last of the 33-year-old captain in Bulldogs’ colours.

“I’m hopeful that once it all settles and if it does confirm the worst after lunchtime, that Bob still has a bright future as a player and captain of our football club,” Beveridge said.

Murphy is also likely to discuss ligament augmentation reconstruction system (LARS) surgery with Young to try and shorten his layoff.

It is the same surgery which saw Sydney-turned-Gold-Coast defender Nick Malceski return just 11 weeks after the operation in 2011, and now it could help save Murphy’s career.

“Bob will seek his advice,” Beveridge said.

“At the start of players’ careers, our preference has always been to have the (traditional) surgery that he does so well.

“We’ll consider all the possibilities and do everything we can for Bob’s wellbeing more than anything.”

Retired Bulldogs great Brad Johnson urged the club to remember the painful lessons of Chris Grant’s season-defining injury in 2003.

Grant, who was also captain at the time, suffered a torn ACL in the first game of the season as the Dogs ultimately went on to collect the wooden spoon.

“It just flattened the group,” Johnson told RSN radio on Monday.

“We didn’t really recover for the remainder of that year.

“I think the club as a whole will learn from that.

“Granty is still involved at the Bulldogs and he’ll certainly remind people you can’t let these things affect you as a playing group.”

The Bulldogs showed their quality against reigning premiers Hawthorn yesterday, leading with a minute to play, only for James Sicily to snatch a three-point victory at the death.

“We’re seeing it as a glass half [full] situation,” Beveridge said after the match.

In just 26 AFL matches, Beveridge has victories to his name against every AFL club except Geelong and Sunday’s opponents, Hawthorn.

Hawk Grant Birchall Bulldog Matthew Boyd. Photo: Tracey Nearmy, AAP.

While Beveridge acknowledged the disappointment in falling short of the biggest scalp of his tenure at the club, he preferred to talk about the positives: a third quarter where the Bulldogs’ hunger for the competitive ball reduced Hawthorn to a rabble and Caleb Daniel’s career-best performance in nullifying Sam Mitchell’s influence.

The Bulldogs also enjoyed a spread of 10 goalkickers while Beveridge had to be pleased with the form of Luke Dahlhaus, Jordan Roughead, Joel Hamling and ex-Hawk Matthew Suckling.

“I loved the way we fought back… the Hawks are a strong outfit and hard to combat,” Beveridge said.

“We’re all disappointed. The boys worked extremely hard to give ourselves a look at it.

“We just created so many blatant opportunities that we squandered.

“It’s a loss and it’s one that was within our grasp.”

There were positives too in the crowd, with the 46,808 people who turned out at Etihad Stadium contributing to the Bulldogs’ best home attendance since 2010.

Beveridge said it was because of his troops.

“Our fans have been tremendous. We’ve got to keep giving credit to our players and the momentum they’ve given us,” he said.

The obvious downside to the match was the skipper.

“I think it’s bad news. The worst I think,” Beveridge said.

“We know what sort of person he is. What sort of character he is. He’ll bounce back but it’s sad news.”

Beveridge said his role this week would be to help his players through the emotions of losing their skipper ahead of Saturday night’s match with Carlton.

“They’ll be hurting tonight. Not just for the loss, they’ll be hurting for Bob,” he said of his players.

“We’ll process the emotional side of Bob’s injury and we’ll be ready for the Blues.”

-AAP