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View Full Version : Drafting Marcus Bontempelli has proved to be a stroke of genius from the Western Bulldogs



1eyedog
12-08-2016, 06:02 AM
Have included the article in full text from the HS. Link for subscribers below. Nice piece on our young superstar.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/western-bulldogs/drafting-marcus-bontempelli-has-proved-to-be-a-stroke-of-genius-from-the-western-bulldogs/news-story/7e57ad7f0353a3b277ef99f5b2c79e66

Drafting Marcus Bontempelli has proved to be a stroke of genius from the Western Bulldogs

SAM LANDSBERGER, Herald Sun
August 11, 2016 8:00pm
Subscriber only

JAMES Aish entered the 2013 draft with two senior SANFL premiership medallions and a pair of junior All-Australian jumpers hanging in the pool room.

He was the kid with rich footy bloodlines long touted a top-three selection.

Premiership coach Mark Williams rated another dual All-Australian, Matthew Scharenberg, the best underage player since Wayne Carey.

Nathan Freeman offered explosive speed with a bubbly personality while cool full-forward Cameron McCarthy had won a game for Western Australia after the final siren.


Marcus Bontempelli was the lanky midfielder who averaged just seven kicks for Vic Metro. He thundered home in the TAC Cup and then leapfrogged the lot.

And when history re-ranks the real dux of 2013 it is likely to be an easy task.

Bontempelli, already looking a generational player, should take teammate Tom Boyd’s inside lane.

So with knocks on his speed and physicality — and a tendency to float out of games — how did the Western Bulldogs get this call so very right, taking The Bont at No. 4?
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“From early in the year they were the ones that were really keen,” says Marcellin College footy coach Vaughan Cleary.

“We would’ve had 5-6 different phone calls from the Bulldogs.

“They rang the librarian, they rang the counsellor, they rang the deputy principal, they obviously rang myself and they rang his head of house leader.

“Basically they were making sure this kid was everything we said he was from a character perspective.”

Cleary knew better than most. He coached Bontempelli from age 15-17, his final three junior years.

In Year 10 Bontempelli lacked confidence. In Year 11 he returned after a growth spurt with a bigger fitness base and was in the best nearly every week.

By Year 12, Cleary suspected the AFL would soon be blessed with its newest superstar.

“One day he had 50 touches and kicked 10 goals,” Cleary said.

“And he’s probably dished off another 10. Some people think it’s a myth, but I can tell you we had the stats taken that day and they were accurate.

“I’ve been lucky enough to coach (David) Zaharakis, (Luke) Shuey, (Josh) Caddy, (Leigh) Montagna, (Jack) Newnes and quite a few boys.

“And Bonti’s got some tricks and capabilities I’ve seen in none of them.”

Some clubs were hot on Bontempelli as a Year 11 kid. One said he was “all arms and legs” but there were clear signs he would grow into what we see today.

Boyd was widely viewed as a clear standout, but another Melbourne club swears they would have gone The Bont in a boilover.

“Yep, I had him No. 1,” says the head recruiter.

Why?

“Time, creativeness, vision. His vision was amazing, he had the ability to open the game up (and) smarts is the hardest thing to find in players.”

But it was far from unanimous.

“Consistency the big issue,” read Bontempelli’s Champion Data draft profile.

“He struggled for Vic Metro, but dominated some TAC Cup games onball.”

The AFL’s official number cruncher ranked Bontempelli No. 18 and a recruiter from one club, which had just uncovered a gem for the ages, placed 16 players in front.

The way the draft cards fell in 2013, Bontempelli was never going to slip far.


Gold Coast seemed to settle to Kade Kolodashnij a long way out at No. 5 but it was reported that Collingwood — armed with picks six and 10 — was keen on the man being billed as the next Scott Pendlebury.

The Herald Sun’s phantom draft predicted: “If the Dogs can crack open this bloke’s potential he could wind up the best talent from the draft”.

Still, there was an element of surprise when his name was actually called.

In fact, hours later some privately believed the Dogs might have fluffed their highest draft pick in a decade.

“At the time they (Aish and Scharenberg) seemed safer picks,” another club said.

So how did the cousin of Nick Dal Santo make up so much ground late in the year?

Bontempelli’s final quarter for Vic Metro at Etihad Stadium set tongues wagging and lit the fuse to storm home for Northern Knights.

On an icy day in Ballarat and with the scoreboard settled, many players struggled for motivation.

Bontempelli kicked five goals from the midfield, one after winning the centre clearance, streaming forward and roving his own ball.

“We had recruiters say early in the year, ‘We don’t know whether he’ll get drafted’ which I found quite ridiculous,” Cleary says.

“Then he just started to creep up. It was, ‘He’s a third rounder’ then maybe late second-round then maybe early second-round and then maybe top-10.

“A lot of that movement ironically happened after the season finished.”

Highlight tapes from 2013 are uncannily similar to what Bulldog fans are witnessing.

The amazing spatial awareness, the innate ability to free his arms and cleanly distribute by hand whenever tackled and a refusal to get flustered.

And then there is the unmatched character.

“I remember I said to a Bulldogs recruiter, ‘Dig all you like, this kid is second to none from a character perspective and he will not let you down’,” Cleary says.

The story goes that another club went to the source, hauling Bontempelli into the hot seat to be grilled by its famed senior coach.

They wanted dirt and were barking questions such as, ‘What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?’

The Bont had nothing. So he nervously answered that he’d been rude to his sister before.

That didn’t cut it, so the club called in his mum from the carpark. There was nothing to find, and the family wasn’t thrilled with the treatment.

But it helps explain how in Round 11 Bontempelli, 20, became the youngest winning captain in VFL-AFL history.

In the same month, two of the three players drafted before The Bont — Boyd and Jack Billings — played VFL.

“You don’t get that greatness from not doing anything,” junior teammate Josh Dunkley says.

“He’s always last to leave the gym, last to leave physio treatment and he’s always doing extra stuff.”

In Dogs coach Luke Beveridge’s first summer he noted parallels between Bontempelli and former Carlton superstar Anthony Koutoufides.

After Bontempelli aced North Melbourne’s bullying test last week Beveridge declared the kid was “made of pretty special substances”.

AFL legend Leigh Matthews echoed Bevo’s Kouta call this year, anointing Bontempelli the game’s best young talent.

Recently Bontempelli hit No. 5 in the AFL player ratings that clubs fawn over and he sits fourth in the coach’s award, behind Dustin Martin (age 25), Rory Sloane (26) and Patrick Dangerfield (26).

Champion Data stats show Bontempelli and hot Brownlow favourite Dangerfield are the only two players averaging more than 24 disposals and a goal per game.

And Bontempelli doesn’t need 30 disposals to destroy you. He wins a mammoth 52.4 per cent of his disposals in the forward half, ranked No. 4 among the AFL’s top ball getters.

In fact, in Bontempelli’s eighth game he ducked, dodged and weaved past about five Melbourne tacklers before kicking what should have been the goal of the year.

It wasn’t, but it broke the deadlock to deliver his second win and umpires declared his 17 possessions enough to warrant the three Brownlow votes.

In Bontempelli’s five three-vote games, all wins, he averages one goal from 23 possessions.

In Bontempelli’s third season he’s already had eight games with those boxes ticked in an ominous sign.

Chris Judd won the Brownlow in his third season and noted this week that Bontempelli has a “happy knack” of delivering when the Dogs desire most.

And while most of his draft class has been in and out of second-tier footy, Bontempelli never returned to Footscray after just two warm-up games before his debut.

It is that rapid rate of improvement which is why chief Dogs recruiter Simon Dalrymple knew he might be drafting a champion.

“It’s something that I haven’t seen in my 15 years or so of watching TAC Cup footy,” Dalrymple said on draft night.

But why The Bont over Aish, who’s junior CV was exemplary?

“The decision was very much neck and neck, but we just felt in the end Marcus was going to be a bit more difficult to play against in the midfield.

“Part of that is winning your own ball and it’s not that James won’t do that, but Marcus is bigger and has some unique capabilities.”

THE 2013 DRAFT

PICK PLAYER CLUB GAMES

1 Tom Boyd GWS/WB 31

2 Josh Kelly GWS 55

3 Jack Billings St K 39

4 MARCUS BONTEMPELLI WB 56

5 Kade Kolodjashnij GC 56

6 Matthew Scharenberg Coll 4

7 James Aish BL/COLL 44

8 Luke McDonald NM 50

9 Christian Salem Melb 29

10 Nathan Freeman Coll/St K 0

WORTHY OF PICK 4?

Marcus Bontempelli’s Vic Metro averages

Games: 4

Kicks: 7

Handballs: 7

Contested possessions: 3.8

Clearances: 1.3

Tackles: 0.5

Goals: 0.5

bornadog
12-08-2016, 09:24 AM
http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/q/9/b/3/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqq8li.png/1470912659351.jpg

No holding back.

Good article here (http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/wayne-carey-poke-the-bear-and-risk-a-mauling-20160811-gqq8li.html) from Carey - Don't Poke the Bear

Mofra
12-08-2016, 09:50 AM
I love the fact that not only was the Bont smiling in that photo, he absolutely destroyed Firrito mentally with a smother then getting into his face.

Bonti struggled last year as a 19 year old copping a tag as you'd expect, he now seems to have learned how to deal with it.
His disposal averages have risen every year too and if he gets a full pre-season this time around he'll be unstoppable.

Ozza
12-08-2016, 10:04 AM
The Bont is so productive when he gets the footy - imagine he turns his 24 possessions a game into 30 possessions.

LostDoggy
12-08-2016, 10:12 AM
I love the fact that not only was the Bont smiling in that photo, he absolutely destroyed Firrito mentally with a smother then getting into his face.

Bonti struggled last year as a 19 year old copping a tag as you'd expect, he now seems to have learned how to deal with it.
His disposal averages have risen every year too and if he gets a full pre-season this time around he'll be unstoppable.

Great point. Has played every game this year off a severely limited preseason. Huge workload but keeps stepping up. Scary to think what's to come

Twodogs
12-08-2016, 11:52 AM
Great point. Has played every game this year off a severely limited preseason. Huge workload but keeps stepping up. Scary to think what's to come


Not for us PP, not for us.

Topdog
12-08-2016, 01:59 PM
Bonti struggled last year as a 19 year old copping a tag.

I know its nitpicking but I think saying he struggled is over the top. Think he handled it better than most 19 year olds

AndrewP6
12-08-2016, 02:14 PM
This was a great article. Love the Bont.

AndrewP6
12-08-2016, 02:24 PM
I know its nitpicking but I think saying he struggled is over the top. Think he handled it better than most 19 year olds

I did a double take reading this. I could have sworn he is 22. Turns 21 in November. Holy hell he's an absolute ripper.

Twodogs
12-08-2016, 02:25 PM
I know its nitpicking but I think saying he struggled is over the top. Think he handled it better than most 19 year olds


I agree. He handled the pressure a lot better than most second year players. That is really the first big test of the prodigies, the way they handle their second year.

Ozza
12-08-2016, 02:34 PM
I did a double take reading this. I could have sworn he is 22. Turns 21 in November. Holy hell he's an absolute ripper.

Yep...the Bont, just 20. Our core are really all just kids.
Stringer has been getting a fair bit of criticism....he's 22.
Tom Boyd is 20.
Even Dahlhaus - he seems like a veteran - he's 23.
Lachie Hunter - just 21! JJ - just 23. Macrae turned 22 last week....and Libba seems a very senior 24 years of age.

So exciting that the best footy from this group - going by age, shouldn't be for another 2-4 years.

angelopetraglia
12-08-2016, 02:53 PM
The breed them tough in Eltham ;)

The bulldog tragician
12-08-2016, 03:17 PM
He's ours. He's ours!! I can never quite believe it.

Ozza
12-08-2016, 03:48 PM
I was at a work function the other night and ran into a (Hawthorn supporting) mate that I haven't seen for a while.

Before even saying hello, he just said "How good is the Bont!? How much do you love him?".

The reaction of the non-bulldogs out there seems to be a lot of love for the Bont, and a healthy dislike of Stringer.
I'm ok with both reactions!

Greystache
12-08-2016, 04:32 PM
I remember sitting on the couch with SlimPickens watching the draft and when we called out Bont's name I said I hope we know what we're doing, this has the smartest man in the room disaster hanging over it. I think it turned out ok!

Greystache
12-08-2016, 04:33 PM
The breed them tough in Eltham ;)

Said no one ever :D

Mofra
12-08-2016, 04:42 PM
I remember sitting on the couch with SlimPickens watching the draft and when we called out Bont's name I said I hope we know what we're doing, this has the smartest man in the room disaster hanging over it. I think it turned out ok!
Me too.

It seemed like such a reach given he didn't really firm into top 10 calculations until very late.

Mantis
12-08-2016, 04:54 PM
I remember sitting on the couch with SlimPickens watching the draft and when we called out Bont's name I said I hope we know what we're doing, this has the smartest man in the room disaster hanging over it. I think it turned out ok!

Then you saw him play and said 'Thank *!*!*!*! we pulled the trigger'.. I know I did.

comrade
12-08-2016, 05:27 PM
I remember sitting on the couch with SlimPickens watching the draft and when we called out Bont's name I said I hope we know what we're doing, this has the smartest man in the room disaster hanging over it. I think it turned out ok!

I was having nightmares of another Christian Howard moment.

westdog54
12-08-2016, 05:57 PM
Who was the dropkick bulldogs supporter in the media who really rubbished this selection?

It seems so long ago now I've legitimately forgotten.

Happy Days
12-08-2016, 06:12 PM
Who was the dropkick bulldogs supporter in the media who really rubbished this selection?

It seems so long ago now I've legitimately forgotten.

Dan Lonergan.

chef
12-08-2016, 06:16 PM
Hes not much of a supporter.

FrediKanoute
12-08-2016, 06:28 PM
I admit I was sceptical. Now I am a true believer

bulldogtragic
12-08-2016, 11:01 PM
Stroke of genius is a bloody big understatement.

Remi Moses
13-08-2016, 01:44 AM
I thought like just about everyone we should have picked Aish, but this pick was just complete genius .

Eastdog
13-08-2016, 05:03 PM
What a great player he is. He was instrumental last night in our win. The other amazing thing is he is only 20 years old.