THE BULLDOGS have finally let Bont loose.

Over the past five weeks, Marcus Bontempelli has been handed freedom of the Dogs' midfield and has unsurprisingly emerged as the best, most damaging and most influential player in the competition as a result.

Bontempelli's numbers are jumping off the page. In last Saturday's victory over Greater Western Sydney, the Western Bulldogs skipper notched 26 contested possessions, the most of any player this season and a club record since Champion Data began recording the stat in 1999.

Remarkably, he had 15 contested possessions and 10 clearances to half-time alone in that match to help the Dogs jump to a commanding early lead. In doing so, he became the only player besides West Coast's Brownlow Medal winner Matt Priddis in 2016 to achieve such a feat.

Indeed, the industrial side of Bontempelli's game has exploded since his midfield minutes have increased. Champion Data notes that his onball splits dipped to just 66 per cent last season, having peaked at 86 per cent in 2020. But, over the past five matches, they have risen to an extraordinary 91 per cent.

The change was made by the Bulldogs, in consultation between coach Luke Beveridge and midfield assistant Brendon Lade, after the side's disappointing 0-2 start to the campaign. It has sparked a 4-1 run throughout that stretch, with the team subsequently re-emerging as a genuine premiership threat.

"I think 'Bevo' just wanted him in the midfield more," Lade told AFL.com.au this week.

"He gets one rest per quarter and he goes from there. We haven't had to put him forward as much as we have in other years yet this season. I'm sure that'll come at some stage, just to spread that load a little bit. When we get enough midfielders in the team, he'll go forward at times."

Bontempelli's brilliance in the midfield is based on the fact he provides all of the tough, gritty essentials expected of an inside bull while still retaining the class, damage, penetration and execution of the game's best forward-half players. Barely anyone in recent history has been able to do both as well as him.

This season, according to Champion Data, he ranks No.1 for clearances (8.9 per game), No.3 for contested possessions (15.3 per game), No.3 for tackles (7.3 per game) and No.7 for pressure points (60.6 per game). Such numbers clearly paint him as being one of the game's best inside midfielders.

But, despite spending less time forward than in previous years, he is still one of the League's most impactful scoreboard players as well. He ranks top-10 in the AFL for score assists (1.8), averages strong numbers for score involvements (6.6 per game) and metres gained (429m per match), while kicking five goals and providing nine goal assists from eight matches so far this year.

Very few players have established themselves as one of the game's best clearance players, best ball-winners, best pressure players and best assist players in the same season, as Bontempelli is doing now. In fact, no player in the game's history has had a campaign with his current averages of 15 contested possessions, 8.5 clearances and seven tackles per match. The average of 1.5 score assists only separates him further.

Unsurprisingly, Bontempelli is significantly clear as the No.1 ranked player in the competition for AFL Player Ratings Points – Champion Data's most definitive metric for total influence on the game – through the season's first eight weeks. His average of 20.6 AFL Player Ratings Points per match is a full three points clear of Tom Liberatore (17.6) in second, highlighting just how outstanding his campaign has been.

Furthermore, since Champion Data began measuring AFL Player Ratings Points in 2010, a player has averaged 20+ points across a single season only nine times. The last occurrence was in 2017, when Dustin Martin (20.4) and Patrick Dangerfield (21.2) achieved a one-two finish in the Brownlow Medal. Dangerfield (20.4) also did it in 2016 on his way to the Brownlow, with the other six times coming from Gary Ablett Jnr (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015).

So, what exactly has Bontempelli's two-way brilliance meant for the Bulldogs' purring midfield? Not only has it given Beveridge and co. more balance in the engine room, it's also provided opposition coaches with a near-impossible prospect to tame.

"It makes it a hard match-up for the opposition," Lade said.

"They've got to be careful with who they put on him. If they want to tag him, then they've got to play defence as well because he can actually hit the scoreboard and set goals up. He's an all-round player who can play multiple positions for us."

Prior to this season, Bontempelli had notched 11 or more clearances in a game only three times. He's now done it three more times in the past five weeks alone, spotlighting his astonishing stretch of form.

Now more than 200 games into a career that has already yielded a premiership, four best and fairests, four All-Australian blazers, an AFL Players' Association Most Valuable Player Award and a fourth year of captaincy, a Brownlow Medal could soon await the Bulldogs champion.

As could a post-career role as a coach, if his recent chats around the club are anything to go by. Constantly looking to learn and improve, Bontempelli has been driving his own improvements, and is taking teammates along with him.

"He's really inquisitive about the game," Lade said.

"He'll have opinions on how we should play or what we should do this week from stoppage. It doesn't mean we always go with him, but he's very inquisitive about the game. When you've got someone that's as talented and driven as he is, to have that inquisitive nature, it makes for a good player.

"If you ask anyone in our midfield, he leads by example. It's very easy to follow him. Whether that's winning a clearance like he does, or a contested ball, he's definitely leading around the contest very well. He expects a lot of his teammates, but it's very easy for them to follow him when he's doing that regularly."