Top Dog Marcus Bontempelli leads the charge for Rising Star

WESTERN Bulldogs midfielder Marcus Bontempelli’s has been a revelation in 2014 and he’s leading the race for the AFL Rising Star award.

HE modelled his game on Collingwood superstar Scott Pendlebury.

He is the cousin of North Melbourne’s Nick Dal Santo and was one of the youngest players taken at last year’s national draft.

Some thought he was a reach at No. 4.

Not any more.

Western Bulldogs tall midfielder Marcus Bontempelli is a star on the rise.

His stocks are rising so rapidly that he has come from a mile back to storm into hot favouritism for this year’s AFL Rising Star award as the game’s best young player.

Some pundits already are saying he is a future Brownlow Medallist.

Bontempelli, 18, debuted against Carlton in round five but played just one other game until round 10.

He has since reeled off nine consecutive matches, earning a Rising Star nomination in round 13 to become an undeniable chance to become the first Bulldog to win the Ron Evans Medal.

Bontempelli has played five fewer games than some of his Rising Star rivals this year but he is the hottest commodity right now.

His odds have been crunched into an almost unbackable $1.90 with sportsbet.com.au after six weeks of standout football which have seen him average 19 disposals, kick nine goals and seal a last-minute win against Melbourne with a brilliant snap goal.

“I think he’s a ripping chance,’’ Dogs teammate and fellow Rising Star nominee Nathan Hrovat said.

Bontempelli — a 192cm left-footer who moves like Pendlebury and famously gathered 50 disposals and kicked 10 goals in a school game for Marcelin College — ranks fifth in Champion Data rankings points among the 17 Rising Star nominees this year.

His 66.36 average puts him behind dashing Gold Coast half-back Kade Kolodjashnij (72.43), Collingwood defender Tom Langdon (71.87) and two Croweaters, Brisbane’s James Aish (69.93) and St Kilda’s Luke Dunstan (66.40).

They are the clear favourites in what looms as one of the tightest vote counts in the award’s history.

While the punters are betting on a Bontempelli win, one big performance in the final five rounds could swing the award any of the quintet’s way.

There does not appear to be an undeniable winner at this stage of the year, as there was with Gold Coast’s Jaeger O’Meara last year and Essendon’s Dyson Heppell in 2011.

Kolodjashnij and Langdon have the best rankings points and have played key roles in their clubs’ backlines.

Dual Norwood premiership player Aish is averaging 17 disposals in his first year in the competition and Woodville-West Torrens product Dunstan has been outstanding in the midfield in a losing team.

His 19-disposal average is the best among all Rising Star contenders while he has also kicked nine goals.

O’Meara believes Kolodjashnij’s year has been every bit as influential as his award-winning 2013 season.

“Kade has had an outstanding season and has become a really important and influential player for us,’’ O’Meara said.

“Last year we were screaming out for a running half-back who used the ball well and Kade has come in and played that role like an experienced player. He has made a position we lacked his own.’’

Port Adelaide’s Jarman Impey is one of only five of the nominees to play all 16 games this year but his form has dropped in recent weeks and he has the lowest rankings points average (46.12) of all the contenders.

Crow Matt Crouch (seven) hasn’t played enough matches to be considered a chance.

Two players who have yet to be nominated — GWS’s Jonathan Patton and the Western Bulldogs’ Jake Stringer — are well in the betting market.