westdog54
04-04-2015, 09:47 AM
Marcus Bontempelli takes high pressure in his stride ahead of second AFL season (Marcus Bontempelli takes high pressure in his stride ahead of second AFL season)
THE balls are zinging around. Bodies are going everywhere and voices are up as the skills session at the Whitten Oval starts to go up a notch.
Even in this basic drill the eyes are drawn to one player.
Marcus Bontempelli looks like he’s in cruise control compared to those around him which makes the others look manic.
The hair is certainly longer than last year and there is a bit more definition to the physique.
But something strange is happening.
Through all the chatter not once have we heard “Bonty” or even “The Bont” as Dogs supporters like to call their new favourite son.
“Fooch, Fooch, Fooch,” keeps getting screamed every time Bontempelli has the ball.
Some investigation work is required and a smile appears on the Bulldogs official’s face when asked who is “Fewch”?
“They call him ‘The Future’,” he says.
An hour later “The Future” is in the Bulldogs cafe working his way through a chicken curry as he explains how he’s dealing with the hype and expectation of being the most exciting young player in the country.
“That’s just water off a duck’s back,” he says.
“My mentality is that it’s always going to be there and it’s always going to be in the background. It’s hard not to listen to it because it’s just everywhere with social media, radio, wherever you go there is a little bit.
“You just have to work out how you deal with it best and we have got enough people here giving you the right feedback.”
He says because he was a late bloomer in the TAC Cup, he avoided all the song and dance normally associated with high draft picks.
“I was a late bloomer, no-one really got the chance to build me up too much which in a way was good.
“My final TAC year was my best year of footy so I was lucky compared to say Boydy who was a big key forward of the future, he has had to deal with a lot more than I have.”
The Tom Boyd scenario is a fascinating one given if you asked anyone who should be getting the $1 million a year in their second year at the Dogs it’s Bontempelli not the GWS recruit.
“He has his head screwed on right,” Bontempelli says. “No-one likes to see their teammate get pushed up in the media quite a bit and get spoken about as much as he does.
“You try and be there as much as you can for him but he knows it’s always going to be there in the background.”
If rival clubs think they can use Boyd’s exorbitant pay check to disenfranchise the rest of the young Dogs stars by throwing wads of cash at them, they might want to think again.
“For me I’m not even thinking about contracts,” Bontempelli, who is signed to the end of 2017, says. “This industry you are in and out so quickly, in a short period of time, so it’s something some people have to look at.
“But it’s crucial in a team that wants success, to be able to stick together. I get the vibe that it will happen here as our group is so tight-knit.
“We spend time with each other off the field regularly, it’s not split into three’s or four’s, there are 10 blokes or 30 blokes rocking up to a team dinner.
“That to me is a great sign of what we have got to come.
“There is always going to be contractual stuff but for us to jell together as a team it’s important we hold on to it.
“The thing is we’ve got an exciting future ahead, what we are going to do we’re going to do together. It’s going to be the young crew who are going to have to drive it.”
At seat 1A will be Bontempelli who has already left his leadership stamp on the Whitten Oval despite only being there for 18 months.
After a brief trip to the US with teammate Jackson Macrae, the 19-year-old was eager to get back to pre-season training and arrived ready to go, something he didn’t think his teammate Jake Stringer was.
So he told him.
“You have to get to the point where you feel like it is comfortable to be able to talk to players, even the older players where you don’t think that something is right,” Bontempelli explains.
“With a year of footy behind you, you do feel that way and I think the confidence of the leadership group and coaches to give you the licence to do it helps.
“Then it’s down to the person and the individual’s personality in being able to do it. It’s just part of growing up in a footy club.”
Ask anyone at the Dogs about this respectful and polite young man and they point to his family — father Carlo, mother Geraldine and sisters — as the backbone.
He still lives at home in Eltham with the 45-minute drive to the Footscray and back every day his “think time” and escape from football.
His extended family includes North Melbourne star Nick Dal Santo who he used to bombard with questions at Christmas lunch.
Another cousin, Luke Stanton, was drafted to Carlton but was cut after one year.
“Christmas was always my favourite time of the year because they would be there and I’d pepper them with questions about what it was like and who they played against,” he says.
“I was lucky that I had two sides of the story to reflect on as Luke was a sounding voice about some things he could have done better.
“They both played a pretty big role in how I went as a kid and what I got to achieve.”
Bontempelli and Dal Santo lined up on the wing together in Round 21 last year and the youngster couldn’t help but smile.
“We both just looked at each other and then looked away, I giggled,” he said. “He then had a shot from the boundary and I got stuck into him, ‘Gee, you’re getting a bit old for that I reckon’.
“He didn’t say anything back, I don’t think he liked it but for me just being out there with him was an amazing moment.”
His mentor at the Whitten Oval is three-time Geelong premiership hero Joel Corey who built his career on hard work and little fanfare.
And that’s why Bontempelli loves him.
“We basically walked into the club the same day,” Corey, who has stepped up from development to assistant coach of the midfield this season, said.
“He’s not hard to coach, he seeks things out, he takes control of his own career and I’m just there to basically support him.
“He has the talent, a lot of blokes have that talent but he seems to back it up with workrate and that thirst for knowledge.”
Asked what sets him apart, Corey smiles: “He’s 195cm and playing in the midfield, that probably makes him stand out a bit.
“He hasn’t taken a backward step in actually not resting on just how he went in his first year, he’s trying to grow from that.
“He’s not afraid from doing the hard things around the football, he doesn’t want to be just a one-way player, he aims to be more well rounded and help his teammates as much as he can.”
Bontempelli got four Brownlow votes in his first season where he played 16 games and kicked 15 goals.
One of those goals — the matchwinner from the boundary against Melbourne in Round 15 — was a candidate for goal-of-the-year.
How he didn’t win that or the NAB Rising Star award — he lost by a vote to Brisbane’s Lewis Taylor — is a mystery to many and still a raw point at the Bulldogs.
The man himself handles the question with class.
“Obviously you never like losing, going down by a vote probably made it hurt a little bit more.
“For me to have the year that I did and be lucky enough to play in as many games as I did and be a part of the team, that was as much of an award as I needed.
“And then to receive the AFLPA one — (he won that by almost 300) — which was voted by your peers, I was happy enough with that.”
The pre-season has only fuelled the Bontempelli hype — he had 15 possessions in the first quarter against Collingwood — which continued comparisons to Pies skipper Scott Pendlebury while his new coach sees a lot of Carlton great Anthony Koutoufides in the teenager.
“The comparisons are great and he (Koutoufides) was a great player, one of the best,” Bontempelli says. “Growing up I was a Richmond supporter so I knew of him, I never watched heaps of him but he was a legend.
“To be mentioned in the same sentence is big, if I could be half as good that would be amazing.”
And with that Bontempelli is off, the chicken curry is only half eaten but he’s required at a team meeting.
The West Coast Eagles are on the agenda and “The Future” is excited.
THE balls are zinging around. Bodies are going everywhere and voices are up as the skills session at the Whitten Oval starts to go up a notch.
Even in this basic drill the eyes are drawn to one player.
Marcus Bontempelli looks like he’s in cruise control compared to those around him which makes the others look manic.
The hair is certainly longer than last year and there is a bit more definition to the physique.
But something strange is happening.
Through all the chatter not once have we heard “Bonty” or even “The Bont” as Dogs supporters like to call their new favourite son.
“Fooch, Fooch, Fooch,” keeps getting screamed every time Bontempelli has the ball.
Some investigation work is required and a smile appears on the Bulldogs official’s face when asked who is “Fewch”?
“They call him ‘The Future’,” he says.
An hour later “The Future” is in the Bulldogs cafe working his way through a chicken curry as he explains how he’s dealing with the hype and expectation of being the most exciting young player in the country.
“That’s just water off a duck’s back,” he says.
“My mentality is that it’s always going to be there and it’s always going to be in the background. It’s hard not to listen to it because it’s just everywhere with social media, radio, wherever you go there is a little bit.
“You just have to work out how you deal with it best and we have got enough people here giving you the right feedback.”
He says because he was a late bloomer in the TAC Cup, he avoided all the song and dance normally associated with high draft picks.
“I was a late bloomer, no-one really got the chance to build me up too much which in a way was good.
“My final TAC year was my best year of footy so I was lucky compared to say Boydy who was a big key forward of the future, he has had to deal with a lot more than I have.”
The Tom Boyd scenario is a fascinating one given if you asked anyone who should be getting the $1 million a year in their second year at the Dogs it’s Bontempelli not the GWS recruit.
“He has his head screwed on right,” Bontempelli says. “No-one likes to see their teammate get pushed up in the media quite a bit and get spoken about as much as he does.
“You try and be there as much as you can for him but he knows it’s always going to be there in the background.”
If rival clubs think they can use Boyd’s exorbitant pay check to disenfranchise the rest of the young Dogs stars by throwing wads of cash at them, they might want to think again.
“For me I’m not even thinking about contracts,” Bontempelli, who is signed to the end of 2017, says. “This industry you are in and out so quickly, in a short period of time, so it’s something some people have to look at.
“But it’s crucial in a team that wants success, to be able to stick together. I get the vibe that it will happen here as our group is so tight-knit.
“We spend time with each other off the field regularly, it’s not split into three’s or four’s, there are 10 blokes or 30 blokes rocking up to a team dinner.
“That to me is a great sign of what we have got to come.
“There is always going to be contractual stuff but for us to jell together as a team it’s important we hold on to it.
“The thing is we’ve got an exciting future ahead, what we are going to do we’re going to do together. It’s going to be the young crew who are going to have to drive it.”
At seat 1A will be Bontempelli who has already left his leadership stamp on the Whitten Oval despite only being there for 18 months.
After a brief trip to the US with teammate Jackson Macrae, the 19-year-old was eager to get back to pre-season training and arrived ready to go, something he didn’t think his teammate Jake Stringer was.
So he told him.
“You have to get to the point where you feel like it is comfortable to be able to talk to players, even the older players where you don’t think that something is right,” Bontempelli explains.
“With a year of footy behind you, you do feel that way and I think the confidence of the leadership group and coaches to give you the licence to do it helps.
“Then it’s down to the person and the individual’s personality in being able to do it. It’s just part of growing up in a footy club.”
Ask anyone at the Dogs about this respectful and polite young man and they point to his family — father Carlo, mother Geraldine and sisters — as the backbone.
He still lives at home in Eltham with the 45-minute drive to the Footscray and back every day his “think time” and escape from football.
His extended family includes North Melbourne star Nick Dal Santo who he used to bombard with questions at Christmas lunch.
Another cousin, Luke Stanton, was drafted to Carlton but was cut after one year.
“Christmas was always my favourite time of the year because they would be there and I’d pepper them with questions about what it was like and who they played against,” he says.
“I was lucky that I had two sides of the story to reflect on as Luke was a sounding voice about some things he could have done better.
“They both played a pretty big role in how I went as a kid and what I got to achieve.”
Bontempelli and Dal Santo lined up on the wing together in Round 21 last year and the youngster couldn’t help but smile.
“We both just looked at each other and then looked away, I giggled,” he said. “He then had a shot from the boundary and I got stuck into him, ‘Gee, you’re getting a bit old for that I reckon’.
“He didn’t say anything back, I don’t think he liked it but for me just being out there with him was an amazing moment.”
His mentor at the Whitten Oval is three-time Geelong premiership hero Joel Corey who built his career on hard work and little fanfare.
And that’s why Bontempelli loves him.
“We basically walked into the club the same day,” Corey, who has stepped up from development to assistant coach of the midfield this season, said.
“He’s not hard to coach, he seeks things out, he takes control of his own career and I’m just there to basically support him.
“He has the talent, a lot of blokes have that talent but he seems to back it up with workrate and that thirst for knowledge.”
Asked what sets him apart, Corey smiles: “He’s 195cm and playing in the midfield, that probably makes him stand out a bit.
“He hasn’t taken a backward step in actually not resting on just how he went in his first year, he’s trying to grow from that.
“He’s not afraid from doing the hard things around the football, he doesn’t want to be just a one-way player, he aims to be more well rounded and help his teammates as much as he can.”
Bontempelli got four Brownlow votes in his first season where he played 16 games and kicked 15 goals.
One of those goals — the matchwinner from the boundary against Melbourne in Round 15 — was a candidate for goal-of-the-year.
How he didn’t win that or the NAB Rising Star award — he lost by a vote to Brisbane’s Lewis Taylor — is a mystery to many and still a raw point at the Bulldogs.
The man himself handles the question with class.
“Obviously you never like losing, going down by a vote probably made it hurt a little bit more.
“For me to have the year that I did and be lucky enough to play in as many games as I did and be a part of the team, that was as much of an award as I needed.
“And then to receive the AFLPA one — (he won that by almost 300) — which was voted by your peers, I was happy enough with that.”
The pre-season has only fuelled the Bontempelli hype — he had 15 possessions in the first quarter against Collingwood — which continued comparisons to Pies skipper Scott Pendlebury while his new coach sees a lot of Carlton great Anthony Koutoufides in the teenager.
“The comparisons are great and he (Koutoufides) was a great player, one of the best,” Bontempelli says. “Growing up I was a Richmond supporter so I knew of him, I never watched heaps of him but he was a legend.
“To be mentioned in the same sentence is big, if I could be half as good that would be amazing.”
And with that Bontempelli is off, the chicken curry is only half eaten but he’s required at a team meeting.
The West Coast Eagles are on the agenda and “The Future” is excited.