When assistant coach Steven King presented Marcus Bontempelli with the Gary Dempsey Medal for finishing in third place at the 2015 Sutton Medal count, he talked openly about a player who has ‘obvious talent.’

That talent was on display for all to see in season 2015, ‘The Bont’ backing up his impressive debut season with a stellar sophomore year, the 20 year old finishing the year ranked 11^th in the AFL Player Ratings, the youngest player in the top 100. 

It was a remarkable season for a second year player, but King went on to talk about an aspect of Bontempelli’s game that is beginning to get noticed outside the walls of the kennel:

Leadership.

“[His talent] is matched with a real desire to improve every day, to listen, to learn and create an environment that everybody wants to be a part of,” King said.

In Bontempelli, the Bulldogs have a leader of the future.  A player who has the capability to not only take a game by the scruff of the neck himself, but someone who is keen to take his game to the next level by adding leadership skills to his already formidable arsenal.

It’s a possibility that will leave Bulldogs fans salivating at the kind of player #4 can become.

“I certainly have ambitions of being a leader and setting an example for younger players… and I think we have a lot of players who have a similar feeling around that.”

Bontempelli added that he doesn’t need a title to play a role in leading the young Dogs into the future.

"I’m probably just trying to improve my leadership qualities all round and really just take what I can out of guys like Bob Murphy, Matthew Boyd and Dale Morris, because we do have so many good emerging young leaders.

“But I don’t think that’s going to deter anyone from leading by example and setting a standard that we can hopefully carry the next five or 10 years.”