WESTERN Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade has blamed the SCG surface for the hamstring injury which could sideline Adam Cooney for the side's finals campaign.

Cooney is expected to miss 2-3 weeks after going down in the first quarter of Saturday night's 44-point defeat to the Sydney Swans.

"The ground shifted so we'll have to check the SCG," Eade said.

"The AFL, they talk about Etihad (Stadium) but what about the safety of the (SCG) ground? He landed and the turf gave way, shifted on him, and he tore a hamstring, so obviously player safety is an issue there."

"People want to talk about other stadiums but that's not good enough."

Eade said he had not seen any problem with the ground ahead of the match.

"Not that I saw, but down in that pocket there was shifting turf which caused his hamstring," he said.

There was further bad news for the Dogs, with veteran Brad Johnson succumbing to an achilles tendon injury in the second half.

Johnson was the subject of scathing criticism from former teammate Jason Akermanis during the week, and Eade said the severity of the injury was still unknown.

"He has had ... the sore achilles early in the year," Eade said, "but it hasn't been ongoing. We'll just have to see the extent of it on Monday."

The heavy loss was the side's second in consecutive weeks, and Eade admitted he was concerned by the dip in form on the eve of the finals.

"We need to be better than that," he said. "I thought our first quarter was okay - it was the (6.2 to 1.2) second quarter that killed us."

"Last week (against Geelong) was very poor. Tonight there was some extenuating circumstances. There are some areas we need to address. We need our leaders who have played more than 100 games to really stand up."