Marcus Bontempelli

[Greystache]

I have serious reservations on Stevens. So as a direct comparison goes, that's it. It was specific to comments I which already sounds whipping boyish. Ie, if you love Stevens so much, Marcus is a better model. On Stevens, If hospital passes and bad decision making were a stat, he would have won it 5 times over last year. I like Stevens, I have hope for him too, maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't see it as a slight. I just found the initial nit picking and Everitt references lacking in taste. It's on thing to debate the decision to recruit him, that's healthy, but once his name is read out, let's fall in at the beginning at least.

I have big reservations on Stevens too, but let's not fall into the Kevin Shifter Sheehan trap of declaring any kid who was better than the mediocre kids a guaranteed lock at AFL level. Sam Power was considered the best kick in his draft, but at AFL level he put more players in hospital than Tony Lockett.

I hope Bontempelli becomes a star, obviously, but there's no guarantee we won't be comparing Stevens and MB in 3 years and saying we should stick with Stevens because his disposal and decision making is the better of the two.

[always right]

Slightly off track but the recruitment of Bontempelli continues the recent trend towards us taking left footers. Coincidental or simply a reflection that a lot of left footers are good kicks?

Howard
Libba
Smith
Goodes
McCrae
Prudden
Hunter
Crameri
Fuller
Bontempelli

[Happy Days]

I have big reservations on Stevens too, but let's not fall into the Kevin Shifter Sheehan trap of declaring any kid who was better than the mediocre kids a guaranteed lock at AFL level. Sam Power was considered the best kick in his draft, but at AFL level he put more players in hospital than Tony Lockett.

I hope Bontempelli becomes a star, obviously, but there's no guarantee we won't be comparing Stevens and MB in 3 years and saying we should stick with Stevens because his disposal and decision making is the better of the two.

I just watched the Saints game again and we should all lay off Stevens. He only just stopped qualifying for the 20 game rule!

[Happy Days]

slightly off track but the recruitment of bontempelli continues the recent trend towards us taking left footers. Coincidental or simply a reflection that a lot of left footers are good kicks?

Howard
libba
smith
goodes
mccrae
hunter
crameri
fuller
bontempelli

OMG TOO HAWTHORN STOP COPYING GOOD TEAMS

Seriously I think it is a thing. Just imagine, a whole team of Eagletons. We would win so many semi finals!

[bulldogtragic]

I just watched the Saints game again and we should all lay off Stevens. He only just stopped qualifying for the 20 game rule!

No one is laying into him,I know I'm not. But I've seen a blistering first game or so from many over the journey. Stevens played a blinder, but if you've watched him in the other games, some get concerned. My wife watches the games occasionally, if I had a dollar for every time she says things like why did he give it to someone in a worse position, why did pick the wrong target and his teammates will get annoyed if he keeps hospital passing the... I'd have about $37 on the games she's watched.

My comparison is that Kobes is loved, for all his inadequacies, yet MB is better in these categories already. Again, no one is potting Kobes, but using his one good game for us is a limited argument.

[jeemak]

No one is laying into him,I know I'm not. But I've seen a blistering first game or so from many over the journey. Stevens played a blinder, but if you've watched him in the other games, some get concerned. My wife watches the games occasionally, if I had a dollar for every time she says things like why did he give it to someone in a worse position, why did pick the wrong target and his teammates will get annoyed if he keeps hospital passing the... I'd have about $37 on the games she's watched.

My comparison is that Kobes is loved, for all his inadequacies, yet MB is better in these categories already. Again, no one is potting Kobes, but using his one good game for us is a limited argument.

Have you travelled into the future to determine this?

[Happy Days]

My comparison is that Kobes is loved, for all his inadequacies, yet MB is better in these categories already. Again, no one is potting Kobes, but using his one good game for us is a limited argument.

So is criticising a guy with 30 games for not fully picking up the pace of the game 100% of the time. And one good game is harsh, he has shown he has plenty to work with.

Anyway Bontempelli! I want this obsession with tall mids to die worse than anything, but I have liked what I have seen from what I have gotten my hands on. Speaks really well and has sick, sick hands in congestion; like Libba but pretty. Also apparently has the "rotate the ball in front of your face out of stoppages" down pat, which will make plenty of highlight reels.

If he's going to play such a pretty game, he needs to have a word to Stringer on how to talk more trash.

[Maddog37]

After watching Stevens again in the Saints game I could not help but think he was not quite right fitness wise in many other games.

[Sedat]

I have big reservations on Stevens too, but let's not fall into the Kevin Shifter Sheehan trap of declaring any kid who was better than the mediocre kids a guaranteed lock at AFL level. Sam Power was considered the best kick in his draft, but at AFL level he put more players in hospital than Tony Lockett.

If only the goals were located on the wings - Sam Power would have been the most destructive player in the competition.

[bornadog]

After watching Stevens again in the Saints game I could not help but think he was not quite right fitness wise in many other games.

His decision making ability needs to be improved dramatically.

Currently I rate Howard and Stevens as the weakest links.

[Twodogs]

Slightly off track but the recruitment of Bontempelli continues the recent trend towards us taking left footers. Coincidental or simply a reflection that a lot of left footers are good kicks?

Howard
Libba
Smith
Goodes
McCrae
Prudden
Hunter
Crameri
Fuller
Bontempelli

I noticed that when I was watching the footage too. Us lefties just have more class.

[BulldogBelle]

Bonts has some early attributes similar to those of TGM when about the same age.
Originally a mid-fielder, reasonable pace, tall and still growing and a good mark.

Hopefully he will develop into a new Chris Grant. Wouldn't that be nice. Oh yes. His first year will tell.

On another topic it seems as though rapid and/or spectacular development is a criteria for recruiting a player. Why is this so?

[Greystache]

If only the goals were located on the wings - Sam Power would have been the most destructive player in the competition.

Or if they installed a cross bar Sammy would be the only player who could clear it from 20m out.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

Slightly off track but the recruitment of Bontempelli continues the recent trend towards us taking left footers. Coincidental or simply a reflection that a lot of left footers are good kicks?

Howard
Libba
Smith
Goodes
McCrae
Prudden
Hunter
Crameri
Fuller
Bontempelli

We still have a long way to go when comparing the players you have mentioned with the quality of the 9 left footers that were in the Hawthorn finals line up.

[stefoid]

FWIW, here is Quigley's writeup - I like reading his stuff because he isn't afraid to be negative where he sees a negative.

The summary is, kicking overrated, handball underrated, and too slow to burst clear of congestion, but quick enough when he gets going to get into space around the ground.

Marcus Bontemepelli
DOB 24/11/95 Ht 194 Wt 84

Bontempelli looks like the kind of mid that all coaches are trying to bring in at the moment. Everyone is trying to add height to their midfield and he certainly offers that. He seems to be working his way up the draft boards and at the time of writing I would be surprised if he fell past the Lions at 7 and he is a real chance to be taken in at 4 if Kelly and Billings are off the board.

It has been widely reported that Bontempelli measured in at 194cm at the combine and then also reported that there was a problem with the measuring and that they could have been up to 2cm out. Working out who measured right and whose height has been inflated is an impossible task without looking at what they have measured before (information I don’t have). With that said Bontempelli is one guy who I expect to have measured a little above his actual height. It could be right though as he is definitely a tall guy and with a November birthday he could well have grown since he was last measured.

The November birthday is something that should be kept in mind when assessing him as it would be a fair assumption that he may have a bit more natural development to go than others, some of whom are almost a year older than he is. He has really developed over the latter part of the year after finishing the Champs strong. He was a little disappointing before that but now he has really reasserted himself as a top prospect and would be on everyone’s radar.

It is worth noting that he only averaged 14 disposals across his 4 games at the Champs and 16 disposals in his 9 TAC games. He played a fair bit of school football this year and when he returned to TAC action around the Champs time he finished in the best for the Knights in every game he played from there to the end of the year. His last Champs game against Vic Country was also impressive with him returning 21 disposals in a very good game for him.

One of the things which gets talked up with Bontempelli is his kicking and personally I think his effectiveness is overstated. He has a very stylish left foot kicking action but quite a few of his kicks do not go where they should. I am sure people will point to his good kicking efficiency percentage but that is bolstered by the fact that he goes long mostly and as far as I am aware anything over 35m is considered effective. He can deliver some really nice passes but fairly often his kicks are to no real advantage. Often he looks so good with his kicking that you assume that he is hitting his targets but that is not always the case. I think his decision making seems good and he takes the right options it’s just that his execution is not as good as it perhaps could be.

On the other side of the coin one feature of his game which I really rate and which is largely being overlooked is his handballing. Bontempelli is a very attacking handballer who sets up a lot of good forward movement through his use by hand. He is not super quick by hand but quick enough and he assesses situations quickly and executes his handball skills very well. He hits his targets in stride and where they need it. He is not a particularly long handballer he just gets it to the right spots.

Bontempelli will start his career probably on a flank but will move into the midfield as he develops. He has worked on his inside game and it is coming along but it is still not a strength of his game. At clearances he tends to sit off as a receiver mostly but when the ball comes to him he will put his head over it and he is reasonably effective. It is likely he will start as a fairly outside player but the potential is there to add an inside game as he develops.

In the open field he runs really nicely. He has very good endurance and good top end speed. He lacks explosiveness though and takes some time to get up to top speed. At the Combine he was in the bottom 10% over the first 5m of the 20m but was able to finish in the 50th percentile over the 30m repeat sprint. He is tall and lean and presents as a pretty big target for tacklers but he is surprisingly strong and elusive and does a good job of shrugging or making tacklers miss. When he is tackled he keeps his arms free nicely. When tackling himself he is willing enough but tends to arm tackle too much and this is something which will need attention when he hits the AFL.

The obvious comparison that I have not seen made for Bontempelli is to Brendon Goddard. Both have the same lean build, excellent height and can play at either end or through the midfield. Bontempelli is going to be drafted higher than his performances this year warrant but I do like the potential there and I can understand teams doing it. He is a tempting package.