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  1. #1
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    Mark Robinson’s Top 50

    Mark Robinson’s Top 50: Marcus Bontempelli set to join Western Bulldogs greats

    Any one of Mark Robinson’s top five players wouldn’t look out of place at No.1. But Robbo believes a new name is ready to accept the mantle as the competition’s best.

    Who better to talk about Marcus Bontempelli than the club’s greatest ever wingman.

    But to obtain Dough Hawkins’ mobile number we had to go through the club’s greatest-ever forward in Brad Johnson.

    Who also offered a mobile of the club’s greatest-ever midfielder, Scott West.

    Simple question to the three of them: What’s the probability of Bontempelli joining the all-time greats at the Western Bulldogs?

    Johnson: “Bont is a certainty to. His next contract will be huge and clubs will circle. But he’ll stay and he will be one of the all-time greats.”

    There is club icon Charlie Sutton and then there is the club’s “all-time greats”: EJ Whitten, Hawkins, West, Johnson and Chris Grant.

    And then there’s Bob Murphy, Rohan Smith, Tony Liberatore, Matty Boyd, Scotty Wynd, Luke Darcy and Dale Morris among others.

    Bontempelli will join that last group soon enough, but will he make the next bracket?

    Hawkins says: “I reckon Terry Wallace mentioned that Bont could end on par with Ted Whitten (after the 2016 Grand Final).

    “It’s a big call. But 100 per cent Bont will join the greats. He will certainly be in the top three in the club’s history if he continues with the way he’s playing.

    “I remember watching him in a practice match, I was with Steve and Rod MacPherson, I said to them this young fella reminds me of John Patura (South Melbourne, Richmond in the 1970s), he moved like Patura, both left footers.'”

    Hawkins said he would have appointed Bontempelli captain after Murphy’s retirement.

    “Bontempelli was 21, he was ready to go,” Hawkins said.

    “Take this the right way and there’s only one Wayne Carey, but Bont was level-headed and mature enough at 21 to be given the job.

    “It would not have worried him one bit to be club captain.”

    Today, Bontempelli has been named No.1 player in the Herald Sun Top 50.

    “No arguments with me,” Hawkins said.

    “He’s the full package.”

    West agreed: “You’re very good judge but I’m biased.”

    West is a seven-time best and fairest winner with the Bulldogs and reckons he’ll end up be sharing that honour with Bontempelli.

    “I say to my wife Linda all the time, ‘I’ve got to enjoy the next four years because after the next four years I could be equal with Bont on seven best and fairests’,” West said.

    “I’ve no doubt he will be a better player than me.

    “He’s got the ability to play tall at stoppage, for his size he doesn’t fumble below his knees, and he can also play six foot seven because he can reach high for the ball at stoppages.

    “He and Patrick Cripps will be generational players and let’s hope Carlton and the Bulldogs let them play against each other.”

    Bontempelli earned the mantle as No.1 because, at 24, he is about to enter the best years of his football career.

    That’s frightening because Bontempelli’s early years have been startling: one premiership, three best and fairests, two All-Australians and the winner of the AFLCA champion player of the year award (2019).

    Dustin Martin has the mantle as the sport’s most influential player — bookmarked by two premierships, a Brownlow Medal and dual Norm Smiths — but this season Bomtempelli, by his performance, will have his hand stretched to take the mantle.

    Others are in the conversation: Nathan Fyfe (No.3), Patrick Cripps (No.4) and Patrick Dangerfield (No.5).

    If all of them can stay on the park, we are in for a doozy of a season of individual greatness.

    Bontempelli takes over the captaincy of the Bulldogs this year which could motivate the young man even further.

    That the Dogs looked primed for a serious run at the top four also adds flavour to the Bontempelli dish.

    The two ruckmen — Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy — can’t really be separated and they both are inside the top 10.

    Can anyone really answer with confidence about who is better between Gawn and Grundy? Let’s agree, both are tremendous players.

    Giant Lachie Whitfield is arguably the best line-breaker in the competition and Lion Lachie Neale is a tough, prolific ball-winning midfielder. Both are in the Top 10.

    The final position in the Top 10 goes to Richmond’s Tom Lynch.

    He’s $5 for the Coleman Medal. He kicked 63 goals in 2019 after gaining fitness in the first half of the season and it’s not improbable he could kick as many as 80 goals this season.

    Pre-season Top 50s are all about what we know and how we think the season will play out.

    It’s why St Kilda’s Rowan Marshall (No.26) makes the list, and Melbourne’s Christian Petracca (No.49), Bulldog Aaron Naughton (No.34) and Lion Hugh McCluggage (No.44) are also tipped to become major players in their team’s performances.

    The last spot on the list went to Bulldog Josh Dunkley.

    At 23, and after a searing second half of last season, Dunkley’s name is one to watch in 2020.

    Always the question is who came in at No.51.

    Take your pick: Jade Gresham, Brad Hill, Mark Blicavs, Bachar Houli, Jeremy Howe, Luke Parker, Phil Davis, Steele Sidebottom, Robbie Tarrant, Robbie Gray, Nick Vlastuin, Isaac Heeney, Andrew Gaff, Josh Kennedy (WC), Dylan Shiel, Zach Merrett or Brad Crouch.

    Bulldogs:
    Bont 1
    Macrae 17
    Naughton 34
    Dunkley 50

  2. #2
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    Re: Mark Robinson’s Top 50

    Surely Aaron is selected on potential, rather than consistent delivered performances.

    On last season's form I would have had Dunks way ahead of Astro-Naughts.
    The truth will set you free,
    but first it will piss you off. ... Gloria Steinem.

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  4. #3
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    Re: Mark Robinson’s Top 50

    I think this is more of a “Most Valuable Asset” ranking.

    By this I mean, that if they were soccer players in Europe, who would command the highest transfer fee - all things being equal (ie. years to run on contract, wage demands etc.)

    On that basis, it’s hard to argue against Bont at number 1 and Naughton being on the list.

    Only issue I have is that, on this basis, Cripps is a clear number 2 - as opposed to the cluster of late 20’s guys like Fyfe, Dangerfield and Martin (who, on pure football output at this moment in time, are the best.)

    But then again, it’s Robbo.. He does get muddled at times...

  5. #4
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    Re: Mark Robinson’s Top 50

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeanette54 View Post
    Surely Aaron is selected on potential, rather than consistent delivered performances.

    On last season's form I would have had Dunks way ahead of Astro-Naughts.
    From memory the pre season guide is what he expects to happen during 2020, not what happened in 2019.
    More of an In Bruges guy?

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  7. #5
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    Re: Mark Robinson’s Top 50

    The one at the start of the year is always a prediction of what the top 50 at the end of the year will look like.
    I should leave it alone but you're not right

  8. #6
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    Re: Mark Robinson’s Top 50

    How is Lynch ranked number 6 in the AFL?
    FFC: Established 1883

    Premierships: AFL 1954, 2016 VFA - 1898,99,1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, VFL: 2014, 2016 . Champions of Victoria 1924. AFLW - 2018.

  9. #7
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    Re: Mark Robinson’s Top 50

    So we had Bont at #1, Macrae at #17, Naughton at #34, Dunkley at #50

  10. #8
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    Re: Mark Robinson’s Top 50

    Quote Originally Posted by bornadog View Post
    How is Lynch ranked number 6 in the AFL?
    That's where he thinks he will finish the year if he kicks the eighty goals he potentially could.
    Nobody's looking for a puppeteer in today's wintry economic climate.

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