AFL superstar Marcus Bontempelli’s medial ligament injury has become a serious watch and there are genuine fears he could be ordered to sit out the season.
Although Bontempelli has continued to play through the injury, if things don’t improve for the club, the 30-year-old might get quickly wrapped in cotton wool.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Concerns for Bontempelli emerge as star battles injury
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The Bulldogs skipper hyper-extended his knee in Round 6 against the Cats in an injury that appeared to be very nasty.
However, the inspirational midfielder has continued to push through, and starred the following week against the Swans, although the team lost by 11 goals.
In the meantime, the Dogs are in free-fall after a flying start to the season where they were considered a genuine flag fancy.
Now, engulfed by an injury crisis, they have fallen to 10th on the ladder, and last week lost to a struggling Carlton team.
“Let’s take you back to the Cattery about four or five weeks ago when Marcus Bontempelli hyper-extended his knee,” Caroline Wilson said on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters.
“It looked awful, didn’t it? So the talk is that this medial ligament is a real problem for the Bont and he’s played and he’s played and he’s been absolutely brilliant (but) at times he’s looked a bit banged up.
“The Dogs are saying to me there’s been an eight-day break leading into another eight-day break now and he’s been a lot better in the last week.
“But I maintain, if these injuries continue to hurt the Bulldogs that by the bye, or by the end of June, I think they should make a big call on Marcus Bontempelli for the rest of the year.
“It doesn’t look good.”
The situation remains under close watch as the Bulldogs weigh up their captain’s health against their finals aspirations.
‘This is big,” AFL expert Kane Cornes said on The Agenda Setters. ”A close watch on a star, the biggest star.”
If the Bulldogs decide to take action on Bontempelli, it will definitely shake-up the Brownlow Medal market.
Bontempelli is currently the favourite to win the AFL’s best-and-fairest medal with most bookmakers, an award that many believe he thoroughly deserves.
Bontempelli was runner-up in the Brownlow in 2021, polling 33 votes but not enough to catch Port Adelaide’s Ollie Wines. He was also runner-up in 2023, this time behind Brisbane’s Lachie Neale.
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The Bulldogs have already lost superstar big man Sam Darcy for the season after ruptured his ACL, and important tall Tim English is in concussion protocols with no timeframe on his return.
There is also no timeframe on warrior midfielder Tom Liberatore’s return — who also has concussion concerns as well as a knee issue — and Bailey Williams has just been ruled out with hamstring injury for 5-7 weeks.
There is also no timeline on Riley Garcia who sustained “a recurrent issue related to the area of hamstring tendon that was involved in his previous knee ACL reconstruction”.