At half time against St Kilda on Saturday, Marcus Bontempelli had just six disposals to his name.

But, in an explosive third-quarter, he booted four goals and collected 10 touches to become one of the most influential players on the ground, thanks in large part to guidance from assistant coach Joel Corey.  

“It was interesting because my first half wasn’t as influential as I probably would have liked it to have been,” Bontempelli told RSN927 this morning.

“We prioritised a couple of things coming out after half time - that I wanted to do, that I hoped would help me be more of an influence throughout the game.

“Those were simple things, like being on my toes and ready around the stoppage to move and spread quickly. Engage the opposition midfielders and then to move away from the stoppage and then play from there.”

Bontempelli’s first goal put the Dogs in front. He went on to kick three more for the third term as the Bulldogs slammed on eight goals to five behinds.

“I think most players would be like that - where they have a bit of a check list when they’re not influencing the game the way they want to, because it then allows you to go back to the processes which allows you to have the influence that you want.”

Bontempelli said the advice of Corey during those times was a driver.

“He’s my man, Joel. We’ve formed quite a strong relationship. I’ll often have a quick 20 second chat at each quarter time break where I’ll look at him, he’ll look at me and we’ll see who almost jumps first.

“At that point (half time against St Kilda) I was probably like: ‘it’s not going the way I want it to. I haven’t been playing the way I want to.’

“We sort of spoke about that and he said: ‘if you’re not quite having the influence that you want – you find a reference point.’

“Seb Ross was going quite well at that point in time, (he said) use him as a reference point and start to build your game back from there.

“Then he prioritised it – ‘what are the two things that we’ve always spoken about that help you have the influence on the game that you want and go back to those.’

“Don’t forget those and they’ll help you get where you want to.”