Mike Sheahan ready to put Bontempelli on E.J's level at the Western Bulldogs

Veteran Australian football journalist Mike Sheahan is ready to put Marcus Bontempelli in the same category as E.J Whitten, ranking them as equals when discussing the greatest Bulldog of all-time.

Whitten played 321 games for the Dogs between 1951 and 1970, winning five best and fairests, leading the club’s goal kicking four times and captaining the club for over a decade.

Sheahan, who has followed the game since the 1950s, believes their resumes are becoming eerily similar.

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“Is it heresy to say somebody has matched E.J for impact at the Whitten Oval?” Sheahan told SEN Breakfast.

“Are we at the point where we have to say Bontempelli now sits with E.J for having had the greatest impact at the Western Bulldogs.

“E.J is an exalted figure and rightly so, but sometimes the evidence is irrefutable and the symmetry between these two is remarkable.

“Five best and fairests each, best and fairests in premiership years and in Grand Final years.

“A family friend of mine played seven seasons with the Bulldogs and with E.J and I used to carry his bags to the footy. I was young, I was in my teens, and I think Bontempelli in the modern version, he has the same impact at the Western Bulldogs that Wayne Carey had at North Melbourne.

“They can’t win an important game of footy, the Doggies, unless Bontempelli has a big game.”

Bontempelli has served as Dogs skipper since 2020 and made the All-Australian side in 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023.

He would be well on track to win his sixth blazer and his sixth Charles Sutton Medal in 2024.