Western Bulldogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli has earned top spot in Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson’s Top 50 ahead of the 2020 AFL season. 

The pre-season and post-season lists have been a Herald Sun institution – and major talking point – for years, casting an eye over the competition’s best players. 

Last year’s pre-season number one – Fremantle star Nat Fyfe – won the Brownlow Medal. 

Bontempelli, who was fifth in the Herald Sun’s end of 2019 rating, has been elevated to pole position, with Robinson believing he’s “ready to assume the mantle as the game's best player”. 

Club legend and seven-time Charles Sutton Medal winner Scott West believes he may one day equal his best-and-fairest winning record.

Bontempelli is already a three-time Charles Sutton Medal winner at 24, with two All Australian guernseys to his name. 

“I’ve no doubt he will be a better player than me,” West told the Herald Sun. 

“He’s got the ability to play tall at stoppage, for his size he doesn’t fumble below his knees, and he can also play six foot seven because he can reach high for the ball at stoppages.”

Bontempelli is one of four Bulldogs to feature in the pre-season top 50. 

Fellow 2019 All Australian Jack Macrae slots in at 17, with emerging forward Aaron Naughton at 34 and rising star Josh Dunkley rounding out the list at 50.