#marcus bontempelli (western bulldogs)

[teamofthemightywest]

Sometimes Bont just does things that I don’t think are technically possible

[thebehindpost]

End-of-season medal predictions

Brownlow Medal Winner: Tom Green (GWS Giants) Runners-Up (in alphabetical order): Noah Anderson (Gold Coast Suns) Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs) Nick Daicos (Collingwood) Jordan De Goey (Collingwood) Errol Gulden (Sydney Swans) Lachie Neale (Brisbane Lions) Christian Petracca (Melbourne) Connor Rozee (Port Adelaide) Sam Walsh (Carlton)

Coleman Medal Winner: Jeremy Cameron (Geelong Cats) Runners-Up (in alphabetical order): Oscar Allen (West Coast Eagles) Charlie Cameron (Brisbane Lions) Charlie Curnow (Carlton) Joe Daniher (Brisbane Lions) Toby Greene (GWS Giants) Ben King (Gold Coast Suns) Nick Larkey (North Melbourne) Jack Lukosius (Gold Coast Suns) Aaron Naughton (Western Bulldogs)

Rising Star Winner: Colby McKercher (North Melbourne) Runners-Up (in alphabetical order): Henry Hustwaite (Hawthorn) Harley Reid (West Coast Eagles) Ryley Sanders (Western Bulldogs) Jed Walter (Gold Coast Suns)

[cricketfun]

AFL news 2023 | Western Bulldogs external review; Luke Beveridge coaching future; Kevin Sheedy, Kane Cornes, Marcus Bontempelli comments Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge h... #usa #uk

[bongaboi]

Lachie Neale: 2023 AFL Brownlow Medal Winner

STAR Brisbane midfielder Lachie Neale has won the 2023 Brownlow Medal, becoming just the 16th player in VFL/AFL history to win the prestigious award multiple times after prevailing in a thrilling count on Monday night.

Neale, who won the 2020 Brownlow Medal in a dominant season and will be playing to win his first premiership in Saturday's Grand Final, polled 31 votes to win from Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli on 29.

The brilliant onballer was confirmed as the winner only after collecting three votes in the final round of the season, with five players entering round 24 as winning chances.

Collingwood star Nick Daicos (28 votes) finished third after entering the final round level with Neale, with Sydney wingman Errol Gulden (27), Port Adelaide star Zak Butters (27), and Melbourne Norm Smith medallist Christian Petracca narrowly behind on 26.

It was Neale who surpassed them all, however, after saving his seventh best on ground performance until the final round of the year, receiving his Medal in Brisbane as he prepares for Saturday's Grand Final.

Neale joined club great's Jason Akermanis (2001) and Simon Black (2002) in winning the Brownlow Medal during the week of a Grand Final appearance, with Michael Voss (1996) making it five Medals in total for Brisbane.

The former Docker, who joins ex-teammate Nat Fyfe as a dual winner, was rewarded for a season in which he averaged 27.4 disposals across 23 home-and-away games, averaging 8.1 clearances as one of the game's stoppage specialists.

It was a different season for Neale compared to his 2020 win, which also saw him poll 31 votes but instead win by a massive 10 votes from runner-up Travis Boak, also collecting the AFL Players Association MVP and AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year.

The ball-winner, who was runner-up to Patrick Cripps last year, was caught by surprise as he emerged as a winning threat through the evening.

He was the first player to win the most prestigious individual award without being named in the All-Australian team since West Coast midfielder Matt Priddis in 2014.

"It doesn't sit very well at the moment. I'm sure it will sink in at a later date. I'm pretty rattled to be honest," Neale said after being presented with his Medal by coach Chris Fagan at a function with teammates in Brisbane.

"I did not expect this, and to be amongst some of those names that have won two is unbelievable. To be in Brisbane, preparing for a Grand Final, is amazing. I haven't been involved in this week for a decade, so I'm excited."

It was heartbreak for Bontempelli, who was also runner-up in 2021. Daicos, meanwhile, led the count for seven weeks after round 17 but couldn't hold on.

The young Magpies star, in just his second season, was the pre-count favourite and made a fast start as expected, polling 13 votes to lead after six rounds with three early best-on-ground performances.

His votes dried up over the next four rounds, however, with the midfielder overlooked for votes in some of the bigger performances of his season, including a 41-disposal game against Greater Western Sydney in round nine.

Petracca and Neale instead made a run and jockeyed at the top of the leaderboard through the middle stages, with Neale taking the lead back for a three-week run after round 14.

Gold Coast midfielder Noah Anderson was the surprise vote-getter, sitting as high as equal second after 15 rounds following his fifth best-on-ground performance and remaining in striking distance thereafter.

The leading contenders all pressed with big games in round 16, with Daicos collecting his second consecutive set of three votes to move into second place on the leaderboard, just one vote behind Neale.

The 20-year-old continued to surge in a stunning run of post-bye form and took the outright lead in round 17 during a run of four consecutive best-on-ground performances.

Daicos had a battle on his hands knowing injury would strike early in the round 21 clash against Hawthorn, but he held the lead all the way to the final round of the season.

BROWNLOW MEDAL 2023 LEADERBOARD

Lachie Neale (Brisbane Lions) – 31

Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs) – 29

Nick Daicos (Collingwood) – 28

=4. Zak Butters (Port Adelaide), Errol Gulden (Sydney Swans) – 27

Christian Petracca (Melbourne) – 26

=7. Caleb Serong (Fremantle), Jack Viney (Melbourne) – 24

=9. Noah Anderson (Gold Coast Suns), Patrick Cripps (Carlton) – 22

[rugbylovers]

Bontempelli wins second MVP as new faces named in All-Australian team, Sheez the man for Rising Star honours Marcus Bontempelli underlined hi... #funny #memes #sports #live #tweets #win #twitter #tweet #bet #manchester #rugbymen #rugby union #irish rugby #super rugby

[valiantkoalaturtle]

He’s so cute it’s not fair

[onehundredandten-percent]

📷 Eleanor Armstrong

[richardmaddan]

oh sport stars!? are these australian sport stars?

yes australian football stars. my husbands, boyfriends and babies 🥰

I have so many so i'll add them below.

1. Josh Kelly (Greater Western Sydney Football Club)

My Joshy, my number 1 🧡

2. Travis Boak (Port Adelaide Football Club) aka. my old man, my husband. Oldest of all my footy crushes, 33 (hell, he's only 3 years older than me so it''s perfect), but i've loved him for a few years now and will long after he retires.

3. Andrew 'Andy' Brayshaw (Fremantle Football Club, my team 💜) my young son, amazing footballer. future team captain. cutie.

4. Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs Football Club) "The Bont" champion of the game! watching him play... hot!

5. Jamie Elliott (Collingwood Football Club) "Sweet Cheeks" this mans ass! oh my god! he has a fine, fine ass 🍑

6. Isaac Heeney (Sydney Swans Football Club) The boy next door. I can not think of one person who could hate this man. He's the sweetest and has that boy next door look. Cutie! and those abs.

7. Jack Steele (Saint Kilda Football Club) Not a huge fan of the club he plays for but he's hot and great footballer 😉

8. Josh Dunkley (Western Bulldogs Football Club) I've only noticed him this year so I haven't seen him live yet but i like 😜

9. Patrick Lipinski (Western Bulldogs Football Club) Now I've only seen him once at the end of a match on TV but that 2 second clip got me hooked. Sadly he won't be playing for the Bulldogs next year, come to Freo please, but he's cute af so i'll took out for him next year.

and those are my top 9 and current Australian Rules Football players. It's been a great football season. Bring on season 2022.

[leanpick]

Former Fremantle tagger Ryan Crowley urges his former team to tag Western Bulldogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli

Former Fremantle tagger Ryan Crowley urges his former team to tag Western Bulldogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli

Tag the Bont. That’s the advice of former Fremantle tagger Ryan Crowley ahead of his old team’s elimination final against Western Bulldogs at Optus Stadium on Saturday.

[teamofthemightywest]

A sixth B&F for the Bont

There’s never been anyone quite like him.

[shaquellex2]

Week Three: Melbourne Grand Prix

The Formula One was finally back in Melbourne and many different sporting players were promoting it. There were four different Victorian based athletes leading the campaign- Scott Galloway of Melbourne City, Marcus Bontempelli and Tommy Sheridan of the Western Bulldogs, and ex-professional basketball player Peter Hooley. Promotional photos were taken in Albert Park with the intention for those photos to be posted on various social media accounts.

I first saw these promotional photos posted to Scott’s Instagram account. He is the only one I follow out of the four of them. Being Facebook friends with him I also saw it posted to his personal page, as the same content was posted there. I did see a follow up post on Scott’s Facebook page after the initial post which also seemed a little promotional. So all up it was two different posts I saw, and only on social media.

This campaign I think would only be successful for those that follow multiple of these athletes as I feel it had no effect on me seeing it once. It does make sense as to why they used these athletes, though maybe more widely known ones with bigger followings would have been much more effective. Using social media to promote is a great tactic as I think the audience they were targeting were a younger audience of about early twenties to late thirties, and specifically Melbourne based.

[thebehindpost]

Season previews: Western Bulldogs (10th)

Last season: 9th (12 wins, 11 losses, 108.7%) Notable ins: Ryley Sanders (no. 6 draft pick), James Harmes (Melbourne), Nick Coffield (St Kilda) Notable outs: Josh Bruce (retired)

The Bulldogs 2016 premiership was at the time likened to Hawthorn's of 2008 - a young side on the rise that arrived early to kick off a potential dynasty ahead of when anyone expected. The comparison was further cemented when, like Hawthorn in 2009, the Bulldogs missed the eight the next season. Where the similarities now end is that seven years later, there has not been a second successful chapter in this era at Footscray (let alone a third and fourth). Besides that 2016 flag, the balance of coach Luke Beveridge's tenure has been one Grand Final loss, four elimination-final losses and three years missing the finals altogether. In his nine home-and-away seasons, they have not once finished inside the top four.

The tough question arrived at the end of another middling 2023 season: has Beveridge outstayed his welcome? The answer we got from the board was unconvincing. Immediately complicating matters was that less than 12 months earlier, Beveridge had been handed a two-year contract extension amid (real or imagined) interest in the coach from other clubs and he was now tied to the Bulldogs until the end of 2025. Sacking Beveridge wasn't an option because even if his pay-out clause was favourable to the club, it would mean the board admitting to a big mistake and they are loathe to do that lest they be voted out themselves. So it was time to break glass in case of emergency and announce a review. One review became two reviews when the first wasn't deemed sufficient and a summer of football department upheaval unsettled nearly everyone except the coach and the footy boss, Chris Grant. Beveridge and his Bulldogs now enter a new year under a cloud of tensions and doubt.

10th place is at the lower end of their conceivable ladder range in 2024 (barring complete catastrophe). The list is certainly better than that, not quite among the very best in the competition but with good players across every line. They have Tim English, the number one ruckman in the league, and they have Marcus Bontempelli, regarded by many as the number one player full stop. In fact there are five All-Australians on the list. Their key forward, Aaron Naughton, has just signed a massive eight-year contract and a similarly huge deal beckons for Jamarra Ugle-Hagan. And the Bulldogs are healthy with the exception of Bailey Smith, out for the season with an ACL, but he was at sea last year and doing finer work in underwear advertisements than on the football field.

So there is talent at the Kennel but there was talent last year and the year before that. The problem has been playing a consistent brand of football over a meaningful period of time, without wild fluctuations and radical selection changes at the drop of a hat. Beveridge is an emotional coach and only sometimes a very effective one. It was an extraordinary achievement for him to lead them to that premiership in 2016 and then back to a Grand Final in 2021. During those games, the players looked as if they would run through walls for their coach and there is skill in knowing which buttons to push to achieve that result. The problem arises when after nearly a decade in charge, you are reaching so far into your bag of tricks to get a reaction that analogies to Che Guevara are coming out at the season launch. The mind games stop working and there isn't a system and method to fall back on, the players are running around in circles, racking up possessions but not goals and then… you are losing to West Coast at home in round 23 and your season is over.

Another year out of the finals would be a disaster. English is out of contract and has no shortage of potential suitors to convince him more success lies elsewhere. Bontempelli is 28 and though far from the twilight of his career, would be thinking on his legacy and wondering if he will ever add another premiership to his CV here. The powers that be have made the not-so-bold gambit of sticking fat with the coach and adding some new voices to his staff. If it doesn't work, the question will come again: has Beveridge outstayed his welcome? The answer this time would be far more obvious and the consequences far wider reaching.

[luckyarcadedelusion]

Features ‘The Bont’ in iconic landscape pose, a mark of his standing among the Bulldogs’ faithful

Officially licensed and endorsed by the AFL & AFLPA

Approximate framed dimensions are an impressive 900 x 380mm

Framed with Premium Timber Black Frame

[bongaboi]

Melbourne: 2021 AFL Premiers

AFTER 57 years, it came down to 15 minutes. They are surely the sweetest 15 minutes in Melbourne's long and proud history.

The Demons' decades of misery - the AFL's longest premiership drought - is over after Melbourne's stunning third quarter saw them overcome the Western Bulldogs in Saturday night's Toyota AFL Grand Final.

The 74-point thrashing secured Melbourne its 13th flag and first since 1964, with the premiership promiseland reached in style under lights at Optus Stadium in front of 61,118 fans.

And the Perth prize was captured in the most dramatic of circumstances, with the Demons trailing by 19 points midway through the third quarter before booting six goals in 15 minutes to turn their deficit into a 24-point lead at the final change.

It was a wild patch that came after the Dees hadn't kicked a goal for more than half an hour of game time, and it was led by midfield superstar Christian Petracca, who finished with 39 disposals, nine clearances and two brilliant goals. It was an iconic and dominant big-game performance from the midfielder who will now etch his name into Melbourne history as the first Demons Norm Smith medallist.

That Simon Goodwin's men marched on in the last quarter to finish comfortable victors – 21.14 (140) to 10.6 (66) – will mask the epic nature of the first three quarters of the game. But after midway through the third quarter it was an irresistible sea of Demons in an extraordinary shift that will go down in Grand Final folklore.

Bayley Fritsch was sensational with six goals for the Demons while Clayton Oliver (33 disposals, 10 tackles) was also terrific partnering Petracca in the midfield. Angus Brayshaw (25 disposals, one goal) had perhaps the best game of his season, while half-back Christian Salem (27 and one) set things up. Ruck pair Max Gawn and Luke Jackson were influential, Jake Bowey was busy early and Ed Langdon's relentless run was on show.

Melbourne had the Bulldogs rattled to start. Jack Viney flattened Jack Macrae at the opening stoppage, Salem was physical and Mitch Hannan was floored by Steven May. The hits reverberated around the Bulldogs, who were shaky in defence, fumbly at ground level and simply out of sorts.

The Dees jumped to a 21-point advantage by quarter-time, with Petracca's swivel and long bomb opening proceedings. Bailey Williams had two bad moments in defence that led to goals to Charlie Spargo and then Fritsch.

Beveridge sent Adam Treloar into the middle to start the second term in an inspired move to match Melbourne's dynamic midfield. The former Magpie slotted two smart snaps in the opening three minutes and then helped set up another one out of the centre that saw Aaron Naughton kick the Bulldogs' third in four minutes.

Melbourne's momentum, so hard won in the first term, had dissipated as the Dogs booted six goals to one for the quarter in a dominant turnaround. Dogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli was central to it – he converted his two big inside-50 marks into goals and had nine disposals for the term.

A controversial umpiring decision went against the Dees when Gawn's set shot was ruled a behind when he believed it had sailed through, but the Dogs had lifted.

Bailey Smith took that into the third term and Treloar continued to press, setting up Jason Johannisen's mark and goal. When Bontempelli spun and kicked his third goal in the middle of the term, the Dogs had stretched their lead to 19 points. More heartache loomed for the Dees.

But on the canvas, Melbourne threw its biggest swing, with Fritsch kicking back-to-back goals and Petracca's clearance leading to Ben Brown's second goal.

Within an instant, the game was back on level terms, but the Dees weren't done there. Brayshaw added a goal to his hard-running game, Petracca trickled his second through from the boundary, Tom Sparrow kicked one on the run and Oliver's major on the was a killer blow.

The fourth quarter was party time as the kicked nine goals for the term – and 15 of the final 16 of the game – in front of adoring red and blue faithful in attendance. After so many years of football hell, the Demons were finally in heaven.

MELBOURNE 4.5 5.9 12.11 21.14 (140)

WESTERN BULLDOGS 1.2 7.5 9.5 10.6 (66)

GOALS

Melbourne: Fritsch 6, Brown 3, Petracca 2, Neal-Bullen 2, McDonald 2, Spargo, Brayshaw, Sparrow, Oliver, Langdon, Jackson

Western Bulldogs: Bontempelli 3, Treloar 3, R Smith, Naughton, Hunter, Johannisen

BEST

Melbourne: Petracca, Fritsch, Oliver, Brayshaw, Salem, Gawn, Jackson

Western Bulldogs: Bontempelli, Daniel, B.Smith, Treloar, Macrae, Liberatore, Dale

INJURIES

Melbourne: Nil

Western Bulldogs: Nil

SUBSTITUTES

Melbourne: Jordon (unused)

Western Bulldogs: Vandermeer (unused)

Crowd: 61,118 at Optus Stadium

[sportsrepo]

AFL: Marcus Bontempelli and the Bulldogs grand final loss: 'We can't carry the burden'

AFL: Marcus Bontempelli and the Bulldogs grand final loss: ‘We can’t carry the burden’

Marcus Bontempelli hasn’t watched the replay of this year’s grand final. “Don’t know if I will,” he says. Marcus Bontempelli Age: 25 Drafted: Western Bulldogs, pick 4, 2013 Bulldogs skipper: 2020- Games: 171 Goals: 157 Bulldogs’ best and fairest x 4 All-Australian x 4 AFL Premiership: 2016 But, if he does, the Western Bulldogs’ captain and star player could be forgiven, if he thinks there…

[onehundredandten-percent]

📷 Eleanor Armstrong