Barrett on Bonts

[bulldogtragic]

afel.com.au

SAID it three weeks ago on AFL Daily, now doubling down in print – Bont is the best Bulldog of the modern era, quite possibly the best ever Bulldog. Already, at just 25.

Yes, there will be those in the Teddy Whitten, Chris Grant, Dougy Hawkins, John Schultz and Brad Johnson camps uneasy with that early call, but even before this 2021 season where a Brownlow Medal is now looming as yet another personal accolade, it was impossible to totally dismiss Marcus Bontempelli from such status.

While Bont's achievements and numbers in just seven and a half seasons place him prominently in such discussion, it is actually the intangibles which make the strongest case for him. His presence on a football field, his ability to dispose of the ball cleanly and his durability is peerless.

On Saturday night against St Kilda, Bontempelli booted four goals in his side's 111-point win. He's on track for a career high goal tally, his 15 from 10 matches coming at a better strike rate than his previous season-best outcome of 26 from 26 matches in the premiership year of 2016.

In all seven of his completed AFL seasons, Bontempelli has received a personal gong, from being an incredibly unlucky runner-up to Lewis Taylor as the 2014 Rising Star through to three All-Australian jackets (2016, 2019, 2020), and three best-and-fairests (2016, 2017, 2019). Since 2015, when he placed third in club champion voting in his second season, he has never finished lower than third in that count. He has been permanent captain since 2020, and was the youngest ever to captain a VFL/AFL team when he filled in for Bob Murphy and Easton Wood in 2016, a premiership winning season.

And on that Grand Final win that year, if you ever get the chance to watch it again, please pay close attention to his flawless 22-disposal, six-clearance, seven-tackle, nine hitout game of the then-20-year-old. Jason Johannisen, Tom Boyd and Liam Picken were outstanding, but a retrospective case could be mounted for Bontempelli as a Norm Smith Medal winner.

With 155 matches behind him, Bontempelli is not even halfway to Whitten's 321, and more than 200 short of Johnson (364). But since playing 16 of a possible 22 in his first season, he has missed just five since, and none since 2018.

Game No.156 will see him leading his ladder leading side under Friday night lights in arguably the most anticipated match of 2021, against second placed Melbourne. Michael Hibberd, who did the near-impossible and nullified Dustin Martin in round six, looms as Bont's next immediate challenge.