MARCUS Bontempelli is dealing with plenty of different contracts right now. Coffee. Hospitality licences. Council permits. Workplace health and safety. But the contract that will attract the most attention is the one the Western Bulldogs skipper is not too concerned about right now. 

The six-time Charles Sutton medallist and six-time All-Australian midfielder will enter the 2025 season out of contract beyond this October, but Bontempelli is comfortable taking his time, like he has done in the past.

The 29-year-old has not just been busily preparing for his 12th season in the AFL, but has also used the summer to prepare for his first foray into hospitality: Arthur's Milk Bar in Kew is on track to open next month. 

"It's been a great project for me in the background. The older you get the more important it is to start understanding what life away from football will look like for you," Bontempelli told AFL.com.au at Marvel Stadium on Monday.

"A few years ago, I bought a building that had an old milk bar attached to it with a little house behind it. Business has always interested me. I thought it was a good opportunity to test the waters running my own business with my fiancée now. 

"It is exciting to be heading on a new journey, owning and running a small business. It will be a little coffee shop in Kew which hopefully serves good food and good coffee, and just becomes a nice local spot for people in the area to hang out in."

The last time Bontempelli's contract was up in 2021, the star didn't put pen to paper on a four-year contract extension until the end of May. The landscape has shifted dramatically since then. 

Aaron Naughton signed an eight-year deal with the Western Bulldogs in 2023. Mac Andrew reached an agreement with Gold Coast for nine more years in 2024. Hayden Young is contracted at Fremantle through until 2033.

"It's not something I haven't dealt with before. Tommy Petroro [from TGI Sport] and I have always taken our time with things," Bontempelli said. 

"For me, I understand it is clearly an important thing to go through, but from a priority perspective there are other things on my mind. 

"I'm really confident with where things are at and where the club is at, at the minute. For me, we'll work through the start of the season, get things off going well and really locked in on the pre-season build period. I'm really comfortable with where things are at, at the minute."

Speaking to AFL.com.au at AFL captains' day ahead of his sixth season as the Western Bulldogs' captain, Bontempelli has been faced with a different leadership challenge this pre-season when it comes to helping prodigious talent Jamarra Ugle-Hagan deal with the personal issues that have prevented him from training, let alone playing. 

"I've had a few of those challenges to deal with over the course of my captaincy tenure. You definitely learn different things throughout the process,"he said. "It is obviously as much about supporting the player and the person as anything. You quickly realise that the football aspect is important, but not as important as the individual at the centre of it and their health and wellbeing. 

"I try and attack it from a more personal nature, rather than the football aspect and realise that the relationship is important. You've also got to trust the system and processes put around Jamarra that will continue to help and support him as well. You try and do it as a team to help and support."

The 2020 No.1 pick returned to training last Wednesday for the first time in 2025 in a significant step forward after missing out on representing the Indigenous All Stars against Fremantle, but Bontempelli isn't sure when Ugle-Hagan will return to action. 

"I'm confident (he will play a lot of football this year),” he said. "Clearly at this stage, the football conversation around when he's playing isn't really that relevant. It's more about training and getting him up to speed. He has been back training with us in the last week and he seems in a really good space. I think for him, it's slow and steady, so he lasts throughout the season."

Aside from the Ugle-Hagan situation, the Bulldogs have been decimated by injuries across the pre-season, most notably losing veteran key defender Liam Jones, All-Australian midfielder Adam Treloar and small forward Cody Weightman for the start of the season, plus a handful of other concerns across the pre-season for Ed Richards, Bailey Dale and Tim English. 

"The vibe is still really good," he said. "It's not ideal to be losing players in January going into Feb. You get to late Jan and hope guys get through because it is your thickest training volume for the pre-season. Unfortunately, a couple of guys have gone down. But some of them, like Cody's knee, are a bit unavoidable."