An AFL storm has erupted after Western Bulldogs superstar Marcus Bontempelli was seemingly ignored by the umpires when it came to early Brownlow Medal voting.
A Round 2 game fired things up when the Dogs captain and champion did not register a Brownlow vote, despite receiving the 10 AFL coaches’ votes for his 32 touches (19 contested) and two-goal game against Gold Coast.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: AFL CEO’s wife makes early Bontempelli call.
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But Bontempelli had other games where he starred in the early rounds, but still struggled to poll.
In fact, after 11 rounds he had just four votes to his name despite some impressive numbers.
Fans were in shock but earlier, on the red carpet, AFL chief Andrew Dillon’s wife, Amanda, predicted that this would be the case.
“I would like to see Marcus Bontempelli (win it) but I’ve been told he’s maybe not in the mix,” Amanda Dillon told Channel 7’s Dale Thomas.
By way of comparison, one fan pointed to a Tanner Bruhn game in Round 4, where the young Geelong mid scored three votes for an 18 disposal, zero-goal game.
“Bont must lip the umpires all day – genuinely scandalous vote giving,” one fan fumed on X (formerly Twitter).
While another said: “They’re really never gonna let Bont win a Brownlow. Bloke can’t do much more. 26 & 2 no votes, 32 & 2 no votes.”
Another said: “Name me a more iconic duo than Marcus Bontempelli and Brownlow night robbery.”
And another: “If Bont never wins a Brownlow they should shut the award down when he retires.”
Another angry fan said the Brownlow was “getting exposed for a garbage award at this point”.
After some controversy in the Brownlow voting last year, there were calls for the umpires to have access to match stats to help them before submitting their votes.
But at the start of this season the AFL backed the umpires and their opinions in, and said they would again lodge their votes without the use of recorded game information.
Last year Brisbane’s Lachie Neale won the Brownlow, despite not being named in the All-Australian team.
Bontempelli was runner-up, two votes behind.
During the count last year, one controversial game in Round 5 was widely debated when Neale secured three votes for a 20-disposal (just seven kicks) effort.
Also last year, another game — involving Port Adelaide young gun Jason Horne-Francis — raised eyebrows. He got the three votes for a lowly 13-disposal effort.
More to come …