But his emotions turned when he discovered his ankle injury wasn't as serious as feared and he would only miss a week or two.
Cross, 26, had exploratory surgery on his right ankle on Monday night, after an MRI and X-ray revealed something had broken loose during the loss to West Coast on Saturday.
Initially the club feared a serious injury but the operation discovered a "1.2cm piece of cartilage, [bone] spurs, floating bone and general rubbish".
Fortunately for both Cross and the Bulldogs, a minor procedure at The Avenue Hospital in Windsor was all that was needed to remove the damage.
Cross went into the operating theatre in limbo, fearing his season might have been over three weeks before finals with his side sitting in the top four.
"Considering the position we are in, it was really hard to think that my season might have been over," he said.
"I was really upset thinking that was it [for 2009]. But I had to think it might have been,"
"When I woke up, I knew there was going to be one of two stories – either a hopeful one where I'd only miss one week, or a conservative one, where I'd miss the rest of the season.
"Daniel Giansiracusa told me to just stay positive and hope for the one week, which has been the case."
And Cross did get the best news possible delivered once he regained consciousness by his wife Sam, after club doctor Gary Zimmerman told her the outcome.
"Now I've just got make sure I don't have any setbacks and the swelling stays down, and hopefully I can return for either round 21 or 22," he said.
Cross is renowned for being a manic trainer and has been frustrated at being couch-bound, attached to a Game Ready machine that provides his ankle with intervals of icing to prevent swelling.
But he returned to the club on Thursday for some exercise bike and weights work.
"It's hard to think I should be in Queensland with the boys right now, getting ready to play the Brisbane Lions," he said.
Cross said he was confident he would be back in the side within the expected rehabilitation time frame, with persistent swelling the only side effect likely to derail those plans at this stage.
