GEELONG star Cameron Ling will miss Saturday's crucial match against the Western Bulldogs, and Brownlow Medal favourite Gary Ablett could be ruled out too, after yesterday's 74-point win against Fremantle.

The All-Australian pair paid a heavy price in a spiteful encounter at Skilled Stadium that left Dockers defender Dean Solomon facing a charge of striking Ling.

Ling was dazed and confused and was helped from the ground by two trainers. Last night Geelong announced he had a compressed fracture of the cheekbone, and will undergo surgery as soon as possible. Ablett injured his right ankle while trying to tackle Ryan Crowley late in the second term and did not return after half-time.

The midfielder spent the third term sitting on the bench, but was not in the rooms to share the win with his teammates after the game.

Coach Mark Thompson said Corey Enright and Max Rooke, who were forced off the ground with cramp late in the game, should be available to play the vastly improved Bulldogs.

"That just comes from the extra load, but they're both OK. They haven't torn anything, so they'll be fine," Thompson said.

Despite saying he was "really pleased with our discipline and our professionalism", Thompson was clearly fuming about Fremantle's scragging tactics and the injury to Ling.

"We try not to talk to the umpires, we try not to talk to our opposition, we don't unsettle players from the other side, we just play footy. So whatever happened today wasn't about Geelong," he said.

"It's an extremely difficult situation to be in and our boys were really professional.

"We played football and that's what we intended to do … we weren't overzealous because we don't play that way."

After the match, Solomon, who faces a long stretch on the sidelines, took the unusual step of issuing an apology to Ling and the Geelong Football Club.

The 28-year-old asked the Dockers for permission to make his apology, saying it was "probably one of the lowest points in my career", adding that his actions were unacceptable.

"I don't want this to benefit me in any way — I deserve my penalty, whatever that will be — but I do want to apologise to Cameron," he said.

Ling cleared the ball from centre half-back as Solomon charged towards the 27-year-old, making late contact to Ling's face with his left elbow.

After the match, Fremantle coach Mark Harvey said he had not seen the incident, which left Ling sprawled on the ground, but was concerned based on reports.

"Is it an issue? All I'll say is that it's unacceptable," he said.

Asked if the club would deal with Solomon internally, Harvey said there was unlikely to be any additional penalty on top of a potential suspension.

"I'm not one of those coaches that goes beyond the punishment of the tribunal," he said.

"If players want to put themselves in those situations, then they'll pay the penalty at the tribunal."

The Cats led by 13 points at the first break but, for most of the first quarter, Fremantle seemed focused on trying to unsettle the premiers.

"That's the challenge we have every week," Thompson said later. "What are they going to throw at us this week? Whatever they throw at us we've got to be able to handle it and today I thought we handled it beautifully."

The home-town crowd was seething with the lopsided free-kick count, which favoured the Dockers 17 to three in the first term.

"I'd never seen that before," Harvey said later.

"Physically we were laying it on the line."