Tom Liberatore prepares to lead Western Bulldogs as stand-in skipper with Marcus Bontempelli injured
Tom Liberatore has been thrust into the Western Bulldogs captaincy in the absence of injured skipper Marcus Bontempelli. It’s an “insane” situation he never dreamt would happen, writes LAUREN WOOD.
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Tom Liberatore knows his maths.
So when skipper Marcus Bontempelli went down with a “complex” calf injury in the Western Bulldogs’ practice match, the dogged ballwinner quickly put two and two together and knew exactly what it added up to.
No one really told him officially he’d be the stand-in skipper.
“But I put two and two together and realised that the vice-captain becomes captain, I think,” he said wryly this week.
“There wasn’t really much – I didn’t really need to come and cut the red ribbon, but everyone was just more in the avalanche of just worrying about Marcus, I think, so there wasn’t much to it.”
It sounds clichéd to suggest if you’d told Liberatore he’d be captain 10 years ago, he wouldn’t have believed it.
“Ten?,” he scoffed.
“I probably would have said six years ago, to be honest.
“If you had said to me in 2018 (I would be captain), I would have said you were insane. Definitely. But it’s great.
“I’ve had issues obviously getting my body right after the second knee (in 2018) and coming back from 2019 injuries, so it definitely would have been surprising even then.”
It’s come through misfortune, of course, but like most things with Liberatore, it seems almost fitting that his run at being stand-in captain has come from left of the centre that everyone had expected for the beginning of this season.
That’s not to take away from his leadership, as one of the most experienced Bulldogs. But as even he admits his stint as unlikely captain was thrust upon him, he’s prepared to make the most of the opportunity with Bontempelli helping to guide him along the way.
With Homer Simpson on one arm, below Oscar the blimp in tribute to his five-year-old son, and opposite ink depicting another Simpsons character Greasy above a fruit and nut bar.
Yes, you read that correctly.
“I feel great. I feel comfortable,” Liberatore said.
“I haven’t really thought a whole lot about it. I’ve spoken to Marcus about it and who I needed to. (Assistant coach) Jarryn Geary’s been great and in the leadership space Marcus is obviously unreal.
“It’s just exciting. I’m just there to stand in, really. I’m not overly getting too caught up in it.”
He’ll do it his way, but just might not draw on his Dogs legend dad Tony when it comes to Saturday night’s pre-match address to his teammates.
The incident near the end of the game when Tom Liberatore collapsed in the centre of the ground... pic.twitter.com/XlG7EhtoE5
— 7AFL (@7AFL) April 12, 2024
“I definitely won’t go with dad – he’d probably just yell and scream and tell everyone not to be soft,” he said.
“So I might stay away from that. Here and there you can get moments where you’re in your own head here and there, but I’m just pretty excited, really.
“I’ve spoken to Marcus about how to do it and I’ve been lucky enough to be with him for how many games straight now and in previous years when he was captain so I’m pretty much going to follow in his footsteps.
“That’s the culture of the group and that’s how we best prepared towards the back-end of last year and I’ll just follow suit, really. Just be yourself.”
IN YOUR HEAD
Liberatore – who is entering his 15th season and will be the only player from the 2016 premiership to play on Saturday night – was sidelined indefinitely last season as he battled concussion issues.
Urged at times to consider his playing future, a concussion panel considered his time in the game as he missed five weeks.
It forced the premiership midfielder to alter his approach to the ball in a bid to prolong his playing career, with those tweaks further embedded over the summer period.
“I’ve had to make the odd adjustment here and there – you can’t just go running in madly and putting yourself in that sort of risk,” he said.
“But it’s been good. It’s been better to get the continuity again. It was hard coming back after a few weeks out and with a bit of caution when you come back after that. But I’ve been able to hone in a little bit more (over summer) and make sure of it, and I’ve felt fine (in the practice matches). I’m feeling good and feeling confident and feeling ready to go.”
It’s about having more technique, he says, and “keeping your feet”.
“As soon as you go to ground, you’re at risk of copping a stray knee or whatever,” he said.
“More often than not, it’s out of your control, but there was maybe one or two head knocks where I thought, ‘I could have avoided that and been a bit smarter with my technique’.
“If you do that, the law of averages suggests that the more you concentrate on the proper technique, then the less chance you are of getting another one.
“Doing all the other stuff and doing a few more neck strength exercises in the gym and all that sort of little stuff and just preparing a bit better off the field. It all goes a long way.”
YOUNG PUPS
There’s no shying away from the fact that teammate Jamarra Ugle-Hagan has been one of the stories of the off-season.
A flexible training arrangement sees him sometimes at the club, sometimes not, sometimes training externally too. The club is OK with how things stand at the moment, and apart from a couple of missed sessions earlier this week — with the reasons for his absence were comfortable to the club — things have been tracking positively for the better part of three weeks.
Champion of the game Lance Franklin said this week that his phone would always be on for the 2020 No. 1 draft pick should he want to talk, while Liberatore knows what it’s like to have the world coming for you as a young player.
He had his own issues in the spotlight, at around Ugle-Hagan’s age, and while he says “advice can be difficult to give”, they walk alongside the young forward as he navigates his personal battles.
“The main thing we’re doing at the moment is being there for him and supporting him and just making sure that we’re walking with him through the whole thing and not telling him what to do,” Liberatore said.
“It’s all about support at the moment, which is what I received when I went through troubling times. It’s just about consistency of support from then on and just reinforcing values and learning opportunities.
“That’s always been a pretty consistent theme around anyone who’s been through struggles … I think we’ve always stuck by ‘support first’ and try to make it a supportive place to come because our culture I think on the whole has been really positive and we’re always there to support first and care.”
NEW CHAPTER
It’s not just the captaincy that’s a new title for Liberatore.
How about fiance?
The 32-year-old read the hints, proposing to partner Madeleine in January.
And yes, he went the whole hog and dropped the knee.
“Yes, but it was very sore on the way down,” he laughed.
“I’ve had a few surgeries. She’s a lucky girl.
“I got a few hints along the way. She sent me a few Instagram photos of rings and whatnot, so I thought I’d better make the call.”
There’s no rush on wedding plans just yet, he said.
“Maybe the end of next year.”
Originally published as Tom Liberatore prepares to lead Western Bulldogs as stand-in skipper with Marcus Bontempelli injured
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