Marcus Bontempelli

[The Bulldogs Bite]

The vision of him in action in tight situations shows he has great awareness of what is around him. When coupled with decent agility he is able to navigate his way through the play with some ease.

Being able to run around witches hats quickly is nice, knowing where players are stationed around you is better.

Definitely, which is why there's still too much emphasis on some of the testing IMO.

Having said that, clubs have 'cooled' on picking up human gumbys in favour of footballers in recent years.

[Mofra]

Having said that, clubs have 'cooled' on picking up human gumbys in favour of footballers in recent years.

Stringer,Hrovat, Honeychurch - we definately seem to go the "footballer first, athlete second" route harder than most other clubs.

[westdog54]

The vision of him in action in tight situations shows he has great awareness of what is around him. When coupled with decent agility he is able to navigate his way through the play with some ease.

Being able to run around witches hats quickly is nice, knowing where players are stationed around you is better.

Agree completely. The modern game revolves so much around situational awareness, if you've got that covered then you've already got a jump on the rest of the field.

Stringer,Hrovat, Honeychurch - we definately seem to go the "footballer first, athlete second" route harder than most other clubs.

At the end of the day I'd rather train a natural footballer to be athletic than try and teach a natural athlete to play football.

[Ghost Dog]

Agree completely. The modern game revolves so much around situational awareness, if you've got that covered then you've already got a jump on the rest of the field.



At the end of the day I'd rather train a natural footballer to be athletic than try and teach a natural athlete to play football.

It's very difficult to tackle someone with long arms like that and the video shows him exploiting his size, in close. Once he develops, going to be a very flexible option for us. He can possibly pinch hit in the ruck as well.

[Dazza]

I just hope he doesnt end up like Everitt.

[w3design]

I just hope folks don't put too much expectation on Marcus early on, or start describing him as a spud or failed pick if he does not become an automatic best 22 player in year 1.

Yes he is supposedly a midfielder, but remember the kid is what 18 + 2 days old.
On top of that, what is he 193/4cm tall [and probably still growing]. For another player his hight [KP or third tall] we would be constantly hearing " talls just take longer to develop".

I would be pleasantly surprised if we begin to see anything like the best of Marcus in less than 3-4 years. I just have a gut feeling looking at him, that he will be still growing for a couple more years at least. Likely he will just be growing into his own body over the next 2+ years, also adjusting to his increased body mass as he spends time in the weights room.

[azabob]

I just hope he doesnt end up like Everitt.

How is he similar to Everitt to make you say that?

[Ghost Dog]

I just hope folks don't put too much expectation on Marcus early on, or start describing him as a spud or failed pick if he does not become an automatic best 22 player in year 1.

Yes he is supposedly a midfielder, but remember the kid is what 18 + 2 days old.
On top of that, what is he 193/4cm tall [and probably still growing]. For another player his hight [KP or third tall] we would be constantly hearing " talls just take longer to develop".

I would be pleasantly surprised if we begin to see anything like the best of Marcus in less than 3-4 years. I just have a gut feeling looking at him, that he will be still growing for a couple more years at least. Likely he will just be growing into his own body over the next 2+ years, also adjusting to his increased body mass as he spends time in the weights room.

Well said Paul. May be two or three years before we start to see him impacting on the team. Give it time.

[GVGjr]

The vision of him in action in tight situations shows he has great awareness of what is around him. When coupled with decent agility he is able to navigate his way through the play with some ease.

Being able to run around witches hats quickly is nice, knowing where players are stationed around you is better.

It's a real great trait to have as it often separates the footballer from the athlete.

[stefoid]

Jesse Wells was one of the greatest of athletes for his size of all time, pity he was no good at football.

I bet you wouldnt say that to his face

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcM6arnp-Xk

(he might eat you)

[bulldogtragic]

Just reading all this for the first time....

To declare, I was on the Kelly bandwagon until it was clear he was going higher. I then jumped onto the Marcus bandwagon. So I'm a fan and backer.

I know how much every loves Koby Stevens. It's like this in a comparison to Stevens; Marcus is a better mark, much better kick, has much, much better hands, doesn't put his team mates under pressure, makes better decisions, is a similar pace, and will have/has better endurance.

For the talk about Everitt failure... Marcus is rated top 6 by every other club, especially Collingwood. Andreajs was only rated first round by us, sandwiched by better prospects (ie Riewoldt Jnr) hence the bad call. And fwiw, he's more Kouta than Everitt. Development and teaching will be the difference.

There are not many players with elite pace, elite hands and elite kicking. I put Marcus in the elite hands and elite kicking. While pace is not yet elite, if he's using the ball at 80% in dangerous positions setting up the play, I can live with this better than a quicker midfielder with higher turnover rates or disposal issues. And over the years we have lauded some young, fast or 'hard nuts' that don't have good DE or butcher the ball.

Reading some of this makes me think unless he wins a brownlow he's the next whipping boy. But I'm a believer that this won't eventuate.

Welcome aboard.

[Mofra]

There are not many players with elite pace, elite hands and elite kicking. I put Marcus in the elite hands and elite kicking. While pace is not yet elite, if he's using the ball at 80% in dangerous positions setting up the play, I can live with this better than a quicker midfielder with higher turnover rates or disposal issues. And over the years we have lauded some young, fast or 'hard nuts' that don't have good DE or butcher the ball.

Definately agree on the elite hands - and his ability to keep his hands free when tackled is vital at the top level, but is his kicking really elite?

It's long - but I think he has some work to do. Given the improvement in Smith's kicking (which to be fair seems mostly based on him coming into the system with the ugliest ball drop outside of a nursing home) Marcus may well get there.

[Sedat]

For the talk about Everitt failure... Marcus is rated top 6 by every other club, especially Collingwood. Andreajs was only rated first round by us, sandwiched by better prospects (ie Riewoldt Jnr) hence the bad call. And fwiw, he's more Kouta than Everitt. Development and teaching will be the difference.

Not quite so sure about that. My Collingwood mates are well connected with the club - so the story goes, Collingwood used the media to drive up Bonts' trade value by feigning strong interest in him at pick 6 in order for a slider (ie: Scharenberg) to come through to pick 6. Whilst I don't doubt this as plausible, I also don't doubt our recruiter's belief that Bonts is the 4th best prospect in this draft, and the player we genuinely believe has the the greatest scope for rapid improvement. Scharenberg was as much a needs-based selection for Collingwood after losing Heath Shaw as anyone, so it doesn't surprise in the slightest for this version of events to be told by them. If Collingwood had pick 4 and we had pick 6, the results may well have been the same, so in effect both clubs got precisely who they really wanted.

[always right]

I know how much every loves Koby Stevens. It's like this in a comparison to Stevens; Marcus is a better mark, much better kick, has much, much better hands, doesn't put his team mates under pressure, makes better decisions, is a similar pace, and will have/has better endurance.

You're comparing one bloke playing against kids to another playing against elite senior AFL players. Let's see how Bonts marks, kicks, handles the ball and makes decisions under real pressure competing against big bodied opposition (not suggesting we judge him in his first year).

I think you do Stevens a disservice.

[bulldogtragic]

You're comparing one bloke playing against kids to another playing against elite senior AFL players. Let's see how Bonts marks, kicks, handles the ball and makes decisions under real pressure competing against big bodied opposition (not suggesting we judge him in his first year).

I think you do Stevens a disservice.

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.

As for your question Mof, I wouldn't say he is necessarily the best kick in the comp, a few back we said Howard was the best kick, so it's an individual thing I guess. I'm a little unwell right now to get the info, but on the skills test (ie hitting targets by foot etc), he got 29 targets out of 30, I think the best of the combine. I think that would have him as one of our better ball users already. But as I've said in other threads, his success like all kids will be good coaching and development in an elite environment. Assuming he works out, I think BMac can rotate Stinger, Crameri and Marcus through the ground. A coaches dream to have three highly skilled, big bodied midfielders/gun forwards. I think the game is going the way of big bodies around the ground, and all 3 are natural goal kickers too. If I'm wrong in a few years please pot me, but if BMac and the club can get the best out of Marcus, Lordy will it be one of the most flexible forward lines and mids when you consider the likes of Hunter, Hrovat, Dahl etc can rotate as the smaller quicker mids who are also gun small forwards. And Honeychurch could be anything depending on what you react and trust.

I'm unwell, but Marcus on board was a pep up for me and I might have read to much into comments, but reading some of the thread was a little flat. Any top 5 pick excites me, but I get the general consensus feeling is not as strong as it was last year for Macrae, yet their trajectory is very similar you could argue.