When you think of the Western Bulldogs, most people have the likes of Marcus Bontempelli, Bailey Smith and Jack Macrae spring into their mind.
But the importance of Tom Liberatore to the Bulldogs machine is arguably understated and news of his absence from Saturday's elimination final against Fremantle is a massive blow.
The son-of-a-gun suffered a hamstring injury at training and will be in doubt for the semi-final if they Bulldogs happen to progress.
The Sporting News breaks down what the loss of Libba means to the Bulldogs in the finals campaign.
Libba the clearance king
When you see Bontempelli streaming away from the stoppage with this trademark burst or Macrae receiving a handball before hitting a target inside 50, it's usually Liberatore at the coalface winning the clearance.
Over the last two seasons, Liberatore has led the Bulldogs for clearances (7.4 clearances per game), ahead of Macrae and Bontempelli.
If Liberatore is winning the clearance to feed the ball out to the other Bulldog midfield guns, they are allowed to use their damaging skills forward of the centre.
Breaking it down into centre clearances, with first use of utmost importance due to the six-six-six rule, Liberatore (2.6 centre clearances a game) has also been the top Bulldog in this area over the last two years.
Liberatore's absence will likely see Bontempelli and Macrae relied on to win the bulk of the clearances, while Josh Dunkley and Bailey Smith will be asked to step up and earn first use more often in the engine room.
The Bulldog most often tagged
Despite the ability of Bontempelli and Macrae forward of centre, Liberatore is the Bulldogs midfielder tagged most regularly because of his importance in giving the team first use.
In 2022, we have seen taggers such as Melbourne's James Harmes attempt to blunt the influence of Liberatore around the stoppage, while Fremantle's Caleb Serong did a role against the inside midfielder last season.
Liberatore is quite often targeted with a tag because Bontempelli drifts forward so often making a tight match-up difficult and Macrae is perceived to not be as damaging as his fellow midfielders.
It will be interesting to see if Fremantle opt to tag a different player in Liberatore's absence or if they will go head-to-head in the midfield.
Libba's presence allows flexibility
If Liberatore is winning clearances and forcing a contest in midfield, it allows the Bulldogs to push the likes of Bontempelli and Dunkley into dangerous forward roles.
This has been important over the last 12 months, with the Bulldogs forward line being quite unsettled due to injury, form loss and featuring players still finding their feet.
Aaron Naughton and Cody Weightman have been consistent performers in 2022, but Josh Bruce has missed most of the season with injury and struggled since his return, while the likes of Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Buku Khamis have provided cameos but not a lot of substance.
Liberatore's absence will likely mean Bontempelli and Dunkley spend more time in the engine room being asked to win clearances than time up forward giving the attack some unpredictability.
