Leigh Matthews’ praise for Bontempelli

There is a super group of young midfielders taking the competition by storm right now.

Patrick Cripps is already a best and fairest winner at Carlton and has continued his dominant form this season.

Zach Merrett is Essendon’s best midfielder and finished fourth in their best and fairest last year (he was injured for the last five games of the season too). Behind him were Zaharakis, Goddard, Hibberd, Stanton and others.

AFL legend Leigh Matthews rates Western Bulldogs star Marcus Bontempelli the best of them all and said the ‘Bont’ reminds him of Anthony Koutoufides.

‘Bontempelli’s got something unique about him,’ Matthews said on Sports Today.

‘There’s a lot of things he can do above and beyond just being a really good midfielder.’

Last week the Bulldogs star became the youngest ever winning captain, when his side beat the Eagles.

Bontempelli was given the captaincy responsibility after stand-in captain Easton Wood was a late withdrawal. 

‘The fact that he was captain at 20 years of age is a fair indication of the maturity of the boy,’ Matthews said.

Merrett and Bontempelli have both played 48 games, while Cripps has played 33 for Carlton.

Click PLAY to hear Leigh Matthews talking about Marcus Bontempelli