Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has made successful leap to the defense of Marcus Bontempelli, declaring the captain’s fellow midfielders need to regain the “cohesion” they had earlier in the season in order to allow Bontempelli to again flourish.
While they venture into the post season stung by having lost three straight matches and the double chance, tumbling from top of the ladder to fifth, Beveridge insisted on the “everything changes” and the “game becomes a little bit different” now. But there are significant issues to address, including how to re-establish the dominance Bontempelli had while emerging as a Brownlow Medal favourite.
The gold-standard impact Bontempelli had has slipped in the past month, prompting Essendon great Matthew Lloyd to describe him as “really poor” in the loss to Port Adelaide just last week. Bontempelli had only 15 touches, as he did against the Crows in round 20, and while he did have 34 against the Bombers a week later and 31 against the Hawks, he could not will his side to victory.
Beveridge said the Bulldogs had closely studied film of their champion midfielder.
“When we do, we see Marcus trying to put out spot fires, trying to help defensively, compete in the air behind the ball, getting to the stoppage, working his butt off, trying to create offensive opportunities. He is working the house down for the team, I think his effect on the game and his influence is symptomatic of how that whole group is playing together, the chemistry, the cohesion that we established earlier in the year, we haven’t been able to re-establish it as yet. This game is a glaring opportunity for us to get that closer to the mark than it has been. That will help his game, there is no doubt about that, because you spread the load.”
