heres quigleys writeup on bontempelli.
I was just thinking, in a congested stoppage situation, it must be really handy to have your eye level 6-10cm above most of the others - 'above the crowd'. It must be easier for one of the tallest guys at the stoppage to see escape routes and handball options than shorter guys who have to look around the other players. Quigley reckons he is very good at offensive handball - I wonder how significant his height is with that?
Marcus Bontemepelli
DOB 24/11/95 Ht 194 Wt 84
Bontempelli looks like the kind of mid that all coaches are trying to bring in at the moment. Everyone is trying to add height to their midfield and he certainly offers that. He seems to be working his way up the draft boards and at the time of writing I would be surprised if he fell past the Lions at 7 and he is a real chance to be taken in at 4 if Kelly and Billings are off the board.
It has been widely reported that Bontempelli measured in at 194cm at the combine and then also reported that there was a problem with the measuring and that they could have been up to 2cm out. Working out who measured right and whose height has been inflated is an impossible task without looking at what they have measured before (information I don’t have). With that said Bontempelli is one guy who I expect to have measured a little above his actual height. It could be right though as he is definitely a tall guy and with a November birthday he could well have grown since he was last measured.
The November birthday is something that should be kept in mind when assessing him as it would be a fair assumption that he may have a bit more natural development to go than others, some of whom are almost a year older than he is. He has really developed over the latter part of the year after finishing the Champs strong. He was a little disappointing before that but now he has really reasserted himself as a top prospect and would be on everyone’s radar.
It is worth noting that he only averaged 14 disposals across his 4 games at the Champs and 16 disposals in his 9 TAC games. He played a fair bit of school football this year and when he returned to TAC action around the Champs time he finished in the best for the Knights in every game he played from there to the end of the year. His last Champs game against Vic Country was also impressive with him returning 21 disposals in a very good game for him.
One of the things which gets talked up with Bontempelli is his kicking and personally I think his effectiveness is overstated. He has a very stylish left foot kicking action but quite a few of his kicks do not go where they should. I am sure people will point to his good kicking efficiency percentage but that is bolstered by the fact that he goes long mostly and as far as I am aware anything over 35m is considered effective. He can deliver some really nice passes but fairly often his kicks are to no real advantage. Often he looks so good with his kicking that you assume that he is hitting his targets but that is not always the case. I think his decision making seems good and he takes the right options it’s just that his execution is not as good as it perhaps could be.
On the other side of the coin one feature of his game which I really rate and which is largely being overlooked is his handballing. Bontempelli is a very attacking handballer who sets up a lot of good forward movement through his use by hand. He is not super quick by hand but quick enough and he assesses situations quickly and executes his handball skills very well. He hits his targets in stride and where they need it. He is not a particularly long handballer he just gets it to the right spots.
Bontempelli will start his career probably on a flank but will move into the midfield as he develops. He has worked on his inside game and it is coming along but it is still not a strength of his game. At clearances he tends to sit off as a receiver mostly but when the ball comes to him he will put his head over it and he is reasonably effective. It is likely he will start as a fairly outside player but the potential is there to add an inside game as he develops.
In the open field he runs really nicely. He has very good endurance and good top end speed. He lacks explosiveness though and takes some time to get up to top speed. At the Combine he was in the bottom 10% over the first 5m of the 20m but was able to finish in the 50th percentile over the 30m repeat sprint. He is tall and lean and presents as a pretty big target for tacklers but he is surprisingly strong and elusive and does a good job of shrugging or making tacklers miss. When he is tackled he keeps his arms free nicely. When tackling himself he is willing enough but tends to arm tackle too much and this is something which will need attention when he hits the AFL.
The obvious comparison that I have not seen made for Bontempelli is to Brendon Goddard. Both have the same lean build, excellent height and can play at either end or through the midfield. Bontempelli is going to be drafted higher than his performances this year warrant but I do like the potential there and I can understand teams doing it. He is a tempting package.
I was just thinking, in a congested stoppage situation, it must be really handy to have your eye level 6-10cm above most of the others - 'above the crowd'. It must be easier for one of the tallest guys at the stoppage to see escape routes and handball options than shorter guys who have to look around the other players. Quigley reckons he is very good at offensive handball - I wonder how significant his height is with that?
Marcus Bontemepelli
DOB 24/11/95 Ht 194 Wt 84
Bontempelli looks like the kind of mid that all coaches are trying to bring in at the moment. Everyone is trying to add height to their midfield and he certainly offers that. He seems to be working his way up the draft boards and at the time of writing I would be surprised if he fell past the Lions at 7 and he is a real chance to be taken in at 4 if Kelly and Billings are off the board.
It has been widely reported that Bontempelli measured in at 194cm at the combine and then also reported that there was a problem with the measuring and that they could have been up to 2cm out. Working out who measured right and whose height has been inflated is an impossible task without looking at what they have measured before (information I don’t have). With that said Bontempelli is one guy who I expect to have measured a little above his actual height. It could be right though as he is definitely a tall guy and with a November birthday he could well have grown since he was last measured.
The November birthday is something that should be kept in mind when assessing him as it would be a fair assumption that he may have a bit more natural development to go than others, some of whom are almost a year older than he is. He has really developed over the latter part of the year after finishing the Champs strong. He was a little disappointing before that but now he has really reasserted himself as a top prospect and would be on everyone’s radar.
It is worth noting that he only averaged 14 disposals across his 4 games at the Champs and 16 disposals in his 9 TAC games. He played a fair bit of school football this year and when he returned to TAC action around the Champs time he finished in the best for the Knights in every game he played from there to the end of the year. His last Champs game against Vic Country was also impressive with him returning 21 disposals in a very good game for him.
One of the things which gets talked up with Bontempelli is his kicking and personally I think his effectiveness is overstated. He has a very stylish left foot kicking action but quite a few of his kicks do not go where they should. I am sure people will point to his good kicking efficiency percentage but that is bolstered by the fact that he goes long mostly and as far as I am aware anything over 35m is considered effective. He can deliver some really nice passes but fairly often his kicks are to no real advantage. Often he looks so good with his kicking that you assume that he is hitting his targets but that is not always the case. I think his decision making seems good and he takes the right options it’s just that his execution is not as good as it perhaps could be.
On the other side of the coin one feature of his game which I really rate and which is largely being overlooked is his handballing. Bontempelli is a very attacking handballer who sets up a lot of good forward movement through his use by hand. He is not super quick by hand but quick enough and he assesses situations quickly and executes his handball skills very well. He hits his targets in stride and where they need it. He is not a particularly long handballer he just gets it to the right spots.
Bontempelli will start his career probably on a flank but will move into the midfield as he develops. He has worked on his inside game and it is coming along but it is still not a strength of his game. At clearances he tends to sit off as a receiver mostly but when the ball comes to him he will put his head over it and he is reasonably effective. It is likely he will start as a fairly outside player but the potential is there to add an inside game as he develops.
In the open field he runs really nicely. He has very good endurance and good top end speed. He lacks explosiveness though and takes some time to get up to top speed. At the Combine he was in the bottom 10% over the first 5m of the 20m but was able to finish in the 50th percentile over the 30m repeat sprint. He is tall and lean and presents as a pretty big target for tacklers but he is surprisingly strong and elusive and does a good job of shrugging or making tacklers miss. When he is tackled he keeps his arms free nicely. When tackling himself he is willing enough but tends to arm tackle too much and this is something which will need attention when he hits the AFL.
The obvious comparison that I have not seen made for Bontempelli is to Brendon Goddard. Both have the same lean build, excellent height and can play at either end or through the midfield. Bontempelli is going to be drafted higher than his performances this year warrant but I do like the potential there and I can understand teams doing it. He is a tempting package.
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