Link



Two days after he returned to pre-season and four days before his 23rd birthday "The Bont," as Marcus Bontempelli is almost universally known among football fans, extended his contract with the club until 2021.


The news ended any speculation about his contract status in 2019 before it even had the chance to start, with discussion sure to ramp up again when 2021 rolls around as he becomes a free agent for the first time.

Free agency was one of his considerations when renegotiating, although he doesn't expect to ever leave the Bulldogs. But it wasn't the main one. Bontempelli finds shorter-term contracts help keep him focused on the here and now.

"It will keep me driven and right on the edge," Bontempelli said.

That's how the 22-year-old wants to be in 2019 because he's had enough of the navel-gazing that has sometimes accompanied him in the past two seasons as people search for explanations as to why the team has not played finals since the drought-breaking 2016 premiership.

He has come to the realisation that there is no benefit in looking back.
"The more you reflect, the more you get bogged down in what did happen," Bontempelli said.

Having won a premiership, two best and fairests and All-Australian selection before he turned 22, Bontempelli might be tempted to rest on his laurels but he is not, realising that he needs to find new and interesting ways to improve.

To that end he began pre-season with a win in the time trial, an indication that the head start he got in America training at the Nike centre in Portland, Oregon and a college in San Diego served him well.

He wants to build his strength and develop the power to explode from stoppages or off the mark when he plays forward, as he will do at times in 2019, and already he is talking about developing a growth mindset to propel him and the team forward.

That's why when he was asked about how injury - and an appendix removal - affected his performance in 2018 he refused to indulge in excuses.

"I was a little bit banged up but everyone is," Bontempelli said.

"That is the nature of the game and you work out ways to do what you do and get through things at different times.
"The past is the past and right now I am feeling good."

Why wouldn't he be? He is days away from turning 23. He is earning good dollars for the next three years, with the promise of bigger pay days ahead, and he is likely to be the next captain of a club he loves.

"I don't see myself going anywhere else," Bontempelli said.

Five years on: Top 10 2013 AFL draft

Tom Boyd (GWS/Western Bulldogs)
Josh Kelly (GWS)
Jack Billings (St Kilda)
Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs)
Kade Kolodjashnij (Gold Coast/Melbourne)
Matt Scharenberg (Collingwood)
James Aish (Brisbane Lions/Collingwood)
Luke McDonald (North Melbourne)
Christian Salem (Melbourne)
Nathan Freeman (Collingwood/St Kilda/DFA)