Western Bulldogs vice-captain Marcus Bontempelli has been ruled out of this Saturday’s match against Melbourne after having his appendix removed.

Bontempelli completed training on Tuesday without issue, but later suffered the onset of severe abdominal pain.

He was immediately referred to hospital with acute appendicitis and had surgery overnight.

Bontempelli is expected to miss the next 2-3 weeks of football as he recovers from the operation.