The Greatness of The Bont
Art: AI-generated.
As some very astute observers observed this week, after what I'm sure took countless hours of research, Marcus Bontempelli has, in fact, never won a Chas Brownlow medal.
And here's the dirty little secret — he's probably never going to.
If he is, he is quite literally going to have to defy the records of an award that spans back 102 years. Or 24 Olympics (still feel robbed about missing out on 40 and 44). Or 24 different Australian Prime Ministers. Or covers things like The Great Depression, World War 2, the transition from black and white TV to coloured TV and even the transition of black Michael Jackson to white Michael Jackson.
Hopefully that gives you some context for just how much history he'd have to defy.
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Let's just say Bont does finally get the monkey off his back in 2027.
He is turning 31 in late November this year. That would mean he would be around 31 years and 300 days old when he is accepting the award.
Move over Barry Round, because that would make Bont the oldest winner ever.
2027 will also be Bont's 14th AFL season. You know how many players have won a Brownlow in their 14th season or later?
Not one single bloke who's come and gone from the league in that lazy century-long span.
But you know what else? Something that isn't a dirty little secret?
The fact he hasn't won one does not matter one fucking bit.
In this day and age, people get fixated on the small shit, without being able to appreciate the bigger picture as a whole.
Can't see the forest for the trees, I believe they say.
Ron Burgundy had never heard that saying
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Individuals, which I will kindly use in place of Muppets on this occasion, want to focus on what Bont hasn't achieved, no matter how minor in context, as opposed to the overwhelming body of work he has accomplished over his career to date.
As a team player — Bont is already a made man. He's won a flag, so he's scaled the mountain to reach the ultimate goal in our sport.
Oh, and he was the club B&F that season to boot.
On an individual level, good fucking lord.
First and foremost — he's been voted by his peers as the most valuable player in the league... three fucking times!
How that doesn't hold more weight than an umpires' award is beyond me.
Would it be more prestigious with a pissed Brendan Fevola getting around the red-carpet squeezing pressure points?
Probably, actually.
He was also voted as the best captain in the league in those three seasons. You know, casually being told you're the best leader of men out of an entire league of men who love to think they're the menliest men.
Eight-time All Australian, once captain, twice vice-captain.
Six-time Bulldogs B&F, including the aforementioned flag season.
A Coaches Association Player of the Year nod.
But perhaps most importantly — Bont has passed the "fan watching footy and thinking how fucking awesome this guy is and how good he is to watch" test for an eternity.
It's not the catchiest name for a test, but I'd consider it a more important one than a pregnancy test after a conjugal visit.
When you picture someone winning the ball from a contest, and striding away with the impossible combination of seeming like they're stomping through the earth beneath them with every stride, yet floating over the top of it at the same time, you see Bont.
Whether that is short and sharp hair Bont, or locks flowing Bont is really up to you.
There's something about a big guy exiting a contest like a fucking gazelle that jumps out and hits you between the eyes like you've walked through the middle of a darts competition.
He's reached what I think is the pinnacle of being a great player.
When the contest is in the balance, you don't blindly trust that Bont will come through, because you've seen it with your own damn eyes so many times before.
I shit you not, in the first wild card game a few weeks back against the Pies, Tim Membrey kicked a goal late in the 4th to put the Pies in front.
This is the message, verbatim, I sent the group chat.
"Bont with a big clearance here."
That was followed by the message.
"Cometh the time baby."
At no point did I doubt him, and at no point did he let me down for having that faith.
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In my first annual NBA/AFL Comparisons piece (https://www.coffeeotis.com.au/sport/comparisons), I compared the Bulldogs to the Denver Nuggets. This mainly boiled down to Bont being much the same as Nikola Jokic, and having to shoulder such a burden for such a time, and yet still having the ability to walk tall.
"Yeah, cool comparison, but Joker has won three MVPs you know?"
Yeah, I'm aware of that — I'm also aware you can fuck off.
People have the gall to boil it down to "he's never won a Brownlow."
It's honestly fucking insane.
For those people, have a look at what he's actually achieved in the Brownlow medal.
Take the last six counts (2021–2026) — he's finished top six in four of those counts.
How many other guys have that good of a record over a six-year span in, shit, let's say the last 50 years so I don't have to go to the library and start borrowing record books.
Three.
Gary Ablett Jnr.
Paddy Dangerfield
Christian Petracca
And Bont.
Fairly good line-up of players.
If I could bore you with a list, check this little ditty out.
2021 → 2026 Brownlow finishes:
Wines: 1→20→—→35→122→—
Cripps: 68→1→9→1→18→5
Neale: 42→2→1→12→24→17
Rowell: —→92→31→8→1→32
Daicos: —→27→3→2→2→1
Bont: 2→35→2→15→6→3
What you have there is the positional finishes of the last six Brownlow winners, over the last six years. See how up and down every player (yes outside of Daicos, fuck off Kev) is, and how consistent Bont is? Fairly impressive for mine.
And one of Bont's down years in 2024 where he finished 15th?
Yeah, that was one of his AFLPA MVP seasons.
Oh, and he was also the All-Australian Team Captain.
Fuck only knows what game the umpires were watching when they were meant to be calling the Bulldogs that season.
Even in an award count people point to because he's never won one, Bont shows the consistency of greatness.
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An average AFL career spans somewhere between 5–7 seasons.
Bont has been in the top five of the "who would you draft if you could take any player in the league?" draft for longer than most players' careers.
I guess the only thing I'd ask the people clamouring to ding him for the lack of a Brownlow is:
"Would you rather one season of greatness, or would you rather have your career defined by it?"