A stellar debut year for young Bulldog midfielder Marcus Bontempelli has continued, named by his peers as the Best First Year Player at the AFL Players MVP Awards at Peninsula, Docklands on Tuesday night.
18 year-old Bontempelli becomes the first Western Bulldogs player to win the awards in its 17-year history.
VOTE NOW: Click here to vote now for Marcus Bontempelli to win the Hungry Jacks Goal of the Year Award.
Past winners of the AFLPA Best First Year Player Award include dual Brownlow Medallists Adam Goodes and Chris Judd, Geelong triple premiership player Joel Selwood, Carlton captain Marc Murphy and emerging superstars Jeremy Cameron, Jaeger O’Meara and Dyson Heppell.
Recruited from the Northern Knights with the fourth pick overall in the 2013 NAB AFL Draft, Bontempelli played 16 games in his first season of AFL football after debuting in round five against Carlton.
Bontempelli averaged 16 disposals and one goal in his debut season, and received a NAB AFL Rising Star nomination for his 22 disposal, one goal performance in the Bulldogs’ win over Collingwood in Round 13.
The 192 centimetre midfielder invariable placed runner-up by one vote in polling for the 2014 NAB AFL Rising Star to Brisbane’s Lewis Taylor.
Bontempelli is also a finalist for the Hungry Jacks Goal of the Year for his match winning snap against Melbourne in Round 15.
VOTE NOW: Click here to vote now for Marcus Bontempelli to win the Hungry Jacks Goal of the Year Award.
Top Five - AFL Players' Best First Year Player
1. Marcus Bontempelli (WB) 343 votes
2. Luke Dunstan (STK) 69 votes
3. Lewis Taylor (BRIS) 62 votes
4. Zach Merrett (ESS) 53 votes
5. Luke McDonald (NM) 53 votes
