Marcus Bontempelli left out of coaches’ award votes by North Melbourne KNOB Brad Scott

[bornadog]

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Cousin Dal Santo keeping the peace


NORTH Melbourne overlooked Western Bulldogs young gun Marcus Bontempelli in the official coaches votes after Saturday night’s grudge match at Etihad Stadium.

Kangaroos players targeted Bontempelli, 20, throughout the game but he shrugged off the attention to help lead the Dogs to a crucial 14-point victory.

The Herald Sun has confirmed Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge awarded Bontempelli the maximum five votes in the AFL Coaches Association Champion Player of the Year award.

North Melbourne’s coaches did not award him any votes, handing Dogs defender Easton Wood the five and teammate Matthew Boyd four.

Beveridge considered Bontempelli, 20, to have been the most influential player on the ground.

Bontempelli is running fourth in the AFLCA award, six votes behind third-placed Dustin Martin and 21 behind leader Patrick Dangerfield.

The Kangaroos might have long memories from April, when Bontempelli spoke out about a coathanger Lindsay Thomas delivered to teammate Lachie Hunter during their Round 6 encounter.

Hunter was taken to hospital after the game with “concussion-like symptoms” and Thomas copped a one-match suspension.

“We didn’t really like it at all, we thought there was quite a bit of malice in it,” Bontempelli said. “He will be OK ... But we thought it was quite a bit unfair.”

On Saturday night, Bontempelli had 19 disposals, eight marks (three contested), nine tackles and a goal to register 133 SuperCoach points, the most of any player on the ground.

Herald Sun football writer Leo Schlink rated Bontempelli the fourth-best Bulldog on the night.

He told 3AW after the game: “They had my number tonight.

“It’s footy and that’s what you come to expect in this game, physicality and aggression ... you’ve got to wear it sometimes and I felt like I got great support from my teammates.”

Admitting after the match that his side had targeted Bontempelli, Kangaroos coach Brad Scott said there was “nothing untoward.”

“We certainly targeted him, not in a manner that is untoward,” Scott said.

“But he’s a key player. Without disrespecting the rest of the midfield, he’s probably their best midfielder. A terrific young player.

“We really felt that if we could get on top of him, we’d get on top of their midfield.

“Nothing untoward with that, just that’s he’s a very good player.”

Under the AFL Coaches’ Association’s voting system the coaches of both teams award votes to the five best players on the ground on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis, with 10 votes the maximum available in any match.

Round 20 AFLCA coaches votes


WESTERN BULLDOGS v NORTH MELBOURNE


8 Matthew Boyd (WB)

5 Marcus Bontempelli (WB)

5 Easton Wood (WB)

3 Luke Dahlhaus (WB)

3 Jason Johannisen (WB)

2 Tory Dickson (WB)

2 Jamie Macmillan (NM)

1 Ben Cunnington (NM)

1 Fletcher Roberts (WB)

AFLCA LEADERBOARD


99 Patrick Dangerfield (Geel)

93 Rory Sloane (Adel)

84 Dustin Martin (Rich)

78 Marcus Bontempelli (WB)

73 Joel Selwood (Geel)

72 Dan Hannebery (Syd)

70 Luke Shuey (WCE)

69 Luke Parker (Syd)

67 Tom Lynch (GC)

62 Robbie Gray (PA)

[The Doctor]

such petulance from Brad Scott

[bornadog]

such petulance from Brad Scott

Unprofessional, unsportsman and really not a nice person.

[bulldogtragic]

What a pathetic & immature excuse for a sports person. Sums up North Melbourne pretty accurately really.

[LostDoggy]

BabyCo called Brad and they want to be the main sponsor of the Norf oaches box for the rest of the year ie.3games.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
You bitter little turd of an oxygen thief!!!!

[Sedat]

Brad Scott and his meathead Hawk teammates cost us in R22 1997 when they went the man from the opening bounce and we retaliated, which resulted in us losing Southern and Dimma through suspension in the 1997 finals series. It's no surprise he still acts this way as a coach.

Bont should wear this snub as a badge of honour.

[bornadog]

What a pathetic & immature excuse for a sports person. Sums up North Melbourne pretty accurately really.

It is pathetic given Marcus was BOG, plus he is right up there in the voting and would have been 1 or 2 off third spot.

[Sedat]

Was kinda hoping that Bevo would sneak in Firrito for a couple of votes, seeing as he was one of the most influential players on the day for us.

[Doc26]

Hopefully Marcus gets to remind Scott and his Dad's Army again of his influence IF they happen to scrape through and if we have the pleasure of coming up against them again.

[LostDoggy]

Glad someone called him out for it. Absolute flog of a bloke. The integrity of the award now must to be questioned. Well done Brad.

[Greystache]

What a sad little man. It's typical of the way he conducted himself as a player too, do something to someone when they're not in a position to challenge him back.

Scott is the coach Norf deserve. One's as pathetic and bitter as the other!

[Twodogs]

What sort of imbecile gives a player like Marcus Bontempelli extra motivation to play extra well against you the next ten times he plays against you?

Oh well. Remind me to take some popcorn to the next North game. This should be good.

[Ozza]

Probably a fair bit of a beat up.

Don't get me wrong - I gave Bont BOG for us and thought he was our most influential - but 2 of the 3 media votes I saw didn't give Bont a vote. It was one of those games where there were no standouts and any of 10 players could get into the votes.

The article didn't mention that Bevo 'snubbed' Easton Wood.

[Twodogs]

Probably a fair bit of a beat up.

Don't get me wrong - I gave Bont BOG for us and thought he was our most influential - but 2 of the 3 media votes I saw didn't give Bont a vote. It was one of those games where there were no standouts and any of 10 players could get into the votes.

The article didn't mention that Bevo 'snubbed' Easton Wood.

Gosh! Are you saying they had a falling out? Is it over Tom Boyd's contract?

[AndrewP6]

“We really felt that if we could get on top of him, we’d get on top of their midfield"...

That worked well for them.