The Brisbane Lions will ponder whether to appeal Harris Andrews’ three-match ban and suspensions to Zac Bailey and Darcy Gardiner after losing injured star Hugh McCluggage for their blockbuster clash with Sydney.

Andrews has been suspended over high contact that knocked out Arty Jones in the tense five-point loss to the Western Bulldogs, while star forward Zac Bailey and tall defender Darcy Gardiner received one-game bans for other incidents.

Brisbane later confirmed co-captain McCluggage had suffered a low-grade strain of his left calf in the first quarter of Saturday night’s match at the Gabba.

The Lions are confident McCluggage will only miss next Saturday’s game at the SCG as they have the bye the following week.

They will decide by Monday afternoon whether to challenge any of the suspensions handed down to Andrews, Bailey and Gardiner.

Andrews and Jones had flown for an aerial contest and when the ball hit the deck, the Lions skipper flung back his left arm to block the Bulldog’s run but struck Jones in the face.

Jones was immediately treated and taken off with concussion.

Match review officer Michael Christian considered the incident careless conduct, high contact and severe impact, drawing a three-match suspension, and it is hard to see how Brisbane could argue with any of those assessments.

The loss of Andrews is massive given the Lions face red-hot Sydney and their new spearhead Charlie Curnow next week. Andrews will also miss games against St Kilda and Collingwood.

Bailey was cited for a third-quarter elbow to the head of Bulldogs debutant Michael Sellwood after the Lions star was tackled over the boundary line by the defender.

It was considered intentional conduct, low impact and high contact.

Gardiner was cited for a high arm to Bulldogs forward Aaron Naughton, conceding a 50-metre penalty in the fourth term.

That incident was ruled high contact, medium impact and careless conduct.

Ruck recruit Sam Draper, who has battled foot soreness after recovering from an achilles tear, is a potential inclusion to face Sydney next Saturday.

Hard-nosed defender Noah Answerth also played a practice match in his successful return from the same injury.

The Lions had withstood the Bulldogs’ best blows, kicking five consecutive majors to lead by 26 points late in the third term on Saturday.

But the Bulldogs surged back to win 16.15 (111) to 15.16 (106) in an enthralling Gabba contest.

Coach Chris Fagan was left with plenty of positives despite the result.

“Not alarm bells,” he said.

“You look at the stats and there’s so much green here for us.”