Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli says the support the team receives from the red, white and blue faithful does not go unnoticed.

With a record-breaking 60, 830 members signing on in 2024, Bontempelli said he was thankful for their dedication. 

“Obviously I’ve been at this football club a long, long time, and one of the things that stands out is the love and support we get,” he said.

“I love that about our club. It’s working-class, it’s blue-collar – it’s all of those things.

“As a team we try and underpin for the most part, but it definitely stems from how much care and support our people give us.”

The 28-year-old added a number of individual accolades to his resume this season, including a sixth Charles Sutton Medal, sixth All Australian blazer, third Leigh Matthews Trophy and for the first time, All Australian captaincy.

Bontempelli said he’s continually looking for improvement in his own game, while helping best set-up the team for future success.

“You want that growth year on year – for me personally, it will be to continue to try and reproduce some of the things I’ve managed to do thus far in my career,” he said.

“As you get older and have a few less miles in the legs, it’s how you continue to find new parts of your game.

“Obviously it’s still to be very midfield-centric, but hopefully with the growth of some others it could be different parts of the ground.

“I think I managed to kick more goals this year than I have any other, which is probably one sort of small improvement from other seasons. I’ve liked being able to do that – be a presence in another part of the ground.

“That will always be me looking towards the future, to help our midfield grow and improve.”