Western Bulldogs end 62-year drought3:42
AFL: The Western Bulldogs have ended a 62 year premiership drought, storming home in the final quarter to finish off their fairy-tale finals run.
Marcus Bontempelli caps stellar 2016 season by winning Western Bulldogs best and fairest award
MARCUS Bontempelli on Wednesday night joined legend Ted Whitten as the only Western Bulldogs player to win the best-and-fairest in a premiership year.
Whitten won the first of five Charles Sutton Medals in 1954 and Bontempelli secured his maiden award in just his third season.
Whitten scored his final gong in the Dogs’ only other Grand Final season — 1961.
Bontempelli, 20, comfortably beat defensive warrior Dale Morris and ball magnet Lachie Hunter to become the club’s youngest champion since David Thorpe in 1968.
Morris, 33, chalked up the best Sutton Medal finish of his career after playing all four finals with broken vertebrae in his back.
Hunter ranked No.6 in the AFL for disposals this season and was one of just four Dogs to play all 26 games — along with Shane Biggs, Liam Picken and Bontempelli.
‘The Bont’ now boasts the best football resume of any youngster in the land.
After just 63 games he is an All-Australian, best-and-fairest winner and premiership star.
Bontempelli was also named in the AFL Players’ Association 22 under-22 team for the third consecutive year last month — this time as captain — and finished runner-up by one vote to Lewis Taylor in the 2014 NAB Rising Star.
Bontempelli and Brownlow Medallist Patrick Dangerfield were two of five players to average more than 24 disposals and a goal this season.
The pair sits in a rare group of damaging midfielders who win more than 50 per cent of their disposals in the forward half.
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Eight of the Dogs’ top 10 were aged 24 or under in another sign the club is set for an extended stay at the top.
Picken’s herculean September was rewarded as the club’s best finals player, while out-of-contract All-Australian Matthew Boyd placed in the top 10 for the ninth time out of the past 10 seasons.
Boyd, 34, needs to play on and feature 18 times next season to hit 300 games.
Jordan Roughead was named the most improved player after winning the No. 1 ruck mantle and growing his contested marking game.
Norm Smith Medallist Jason Johannisen sneaked into the top 10 on the back of his brilliant Grand Final, despite missing nine matches with a hamstring injury.
The top 10 did not include any of the Dogs’ 2015 All-Australians — Jake Stringer, Easton Wood or injured captain Bob Murphy.
Stringer held out Tory Dickson by two goals to lead the club’s goalkicking for the third consecutive season.
Coach Luke Beveridge revealed Bob Murphy returned the Jock McHale medal to him on Sunday morning, which will now sit in the Dogs’ museum.
“(Bob) said he couldn’t keep it, but he thanked me for the gesture,” Beveridge said.
A packed Crown Palladium, which held more people than the Logies and Brownlow, chanted “Bevo” after his speech.
Ruckman Will Minson retired with from the Bulldogs with an emotional farewell video and then teared up on stage as he reflected on a 191-game career peaking with All-Australian selection in 2013.
TOP DOGS
Charles Sutton Medal Top 10
1. Marcus Bontempelli (319 votes)
2. Dale Morris (248)
3. Lachie Hunter (246)
4. Tom Liberatore (218)
5. Liam Picken (214)
6. Luke Dahlhaus (201)
7. Jackson Macrae, Caleb Daniel (185)
9. Matthew Boyd (184)
10. Jason Johannisen (165)
Other award winners:
Best in Finals: Liam Picken
Best First Year Player: Josh Dunkley
Most Improved Player: Jordan Roughead
Best Team Player: Matthew Boyd
Most Courageous Award: Tom Liberatore