The AFL accolades will keep rolling for Western Bulldogs midfield ace Marcus Bontempelli when he is named an All Australian for the second time.
Bontempelli is one of the unanimous picks for this season’s honorary line-up, which will be revealed on Wednesday night at a function in Melbourne.
His other All-Australian selection was in the Bulldogs’ 2016 premiership season.
The confirmation will come a day after he easily took out the AFL Coaches Association’s champion player award.
Bontempelli finished well clear of Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield and Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe to win the honour for the first time.
Players can earn a maximum of 10 votes per game and Bontempelli beat Dangerfield by 17.
The coaches’ award is not completely reliable as a Brownlow Medal indicator but it will shorten the odds of the 23-year-old Bulldogs star.
In the past decade, the coaches’ award winners have a 50 per cent strike rate at the Brownlow.
The most recent players to achieve the double were Richmond star Dustin Martin in 2017 and Dangerfield the year before.
Dangerfield, Fyfe and Martin are also expected to feature in the 22-man All-Australian team.
The other top-10 finishers in the coaches’ award voting are also in the 40-man All-Australian squad – Geelong midfielder Tim Kelly, Carlton young gun Patrick Cripps, Collingwood ruckman Brodie Grundy, Brisbane onballer Lachie Neale, West Coast’s Luke Shuey and Bulldogs pair Jack Macrae and Josh Dunkley.
Geelong veteran Gary Ablett will make history if he is named in the 22-man team.
That would give the two-time Brownlow Medallist nine selections, the most by a player in the game’s post-national carnival era.
Gary Ablett Snr, Adelaide great Mark Ricciuto, St Kilda legend Robert Harvey and Sydney’s Lance Franklin are the other post-carnival players with eight All-Australian blazers.
West Coast lead the nominations in the 40-man All-Australian squad with seven, while Geelong and Brisbane have six apiece.