For those a bit confused about what KLo30 is refering to, look here:
2014 Chasing Last Years Points
What it tells us, in a nutshell, is that by the end of the 2014, 35 players had achieved both of:
A jump in ave of 20/game or more, from the previous season.
A seasons average of 102 or higher in the season they had the jump.
Of these 35 players, only 3 managed to record an increase in average the next season: Ablett, Swan and Liberatore.
There were 10 players that achieved this double in 2014, bringing the total to 45 players.
How did these players fare in 2015?
[table="width: 600, align: center"]
[tr]
[td]
PLAYER[/td]
[td]
2013[/td]
[td]
2014[/td]
[td]
2015[/td]
[td]
Difference[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Gray R[/td]
[td]82.1[/td]
[td]111.0[/td]
[td]110.4[/td]
[td]
-0.6[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Greene[/td]
[td]73.2[/td]
[td]102.9[/td]
[td]82.8[/td]
[td]
-20.1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Jacobs[/td]
[td]85.3[/td]
[td]115.4[/td]
[td]108.0[/td]
[td]
-7.4[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Martin S[/td]
[td]45.0[/td]
[td]111.7[/td]
[td]110.8[/td]
[td]
-0.9[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Mumford[/td]
[td]91.9[/td]
[td]114.2[/td]
[td]105.7[/td]
[td]
-8.5[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Parker[/td]
[td]86.9[/td]
[td]108.5[/td]
[td]99.7[/td]
[td]
-8.8[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Rockliff[/td]
[td]109.7[/td]
[td]132.0[/td]
[td]101.9[/td]
[td]
-30.1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Sandilands[/td]
[td]64.0[/td]
[td]108.0[/td]
[td]107.8[/td]
[td]
-0.2[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Swallow D[/td]
[td]79.6[/td]
[td]103.2[/td]
[td]85.8[/td]
[td]
-17.4[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Treloar[/td]
[td]87.1[/td]
[td]107.5[/td]
[td]106.8[/td]
[td]
-0.7[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
10 out 10 failed to beat the curse last season, bringing the total to just 3 out of 45 players, who have managed to beat the curse.
This leads us to ask: Who are the cursed players from 2015?
[table="width: 500, align: center"]
[tr]
[td]
PLAYER[/td]
[td]
2014[/td]
[td]
2015[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Blicavs[/td]
[td]69.2[/td]
[td]104.3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Bontempelli[/td]
[td]78.6[/td]
[td]103.2[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Gawn[/td]
[td]63.2[/td]
[td]102.1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Goldstein[/td]
[td]106.9[/td]
[td]128.8[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Mitchell T[/td]
[td]83.8[/td]
[td]104.5[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Shaw H[/td]
[td]92.6[/td]
[td]112.6[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
So, back to KLo30's question.
What chance do I give Bontempelli of overcoming this curse?
I actually rate him a really good chance. I think he's an exception to the rule, and the reasons are simple.
He's showing leadership and maturity beyond his relative inexperience.
He's a contested beast.
He inserts himself where needed in close games. Demonstrated by him drifting back behind play to take intercept marks in the last quarter last week. This habit is SC gold. If he's needed forward, he goes forward, and kicks, or is involved in the match winning goal, as demonstated the week before. He's a Hird/Fyfe/Pendlebury type, that reads the game, and does what is needed. He doesn't need, or wait, for the coach to tell him.
The other reason is, his comparison to a young Pendlebury or Fyfe is a very close thing! They became bankable Mid Prems around or just after their 50th games. Bontempelli has played 52 games. Let's break their games into 10 game blocks.
We can see he compares quite well against two of the best in the game, for the same stage of their careers, We know where their careers went from this point, as we can see in their next 30 games in the table. I believe the writing is on the wall, for Bontempelli to follow closely in their career footsteps.