Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has seen his captain Marcus Bontempelli be a match-winner so many times, it's almost normal.
Almost.
"You get used to it, don't you?" Dogs coach Beveridge shrugged after another Bontempelli star showing in Friday night's 10.14 (74) to 10.12 (72) away win over Port Adelaide.
"You almost normalise the effect that he can have on a game."
But Beveridge knows his skipper is far from normal, evidenced again by his feats against the Power: 30 disposals, 10 tackles, seven clearances, eight inside 50s, one goal.
All while carrying a sore knee, plus a heel injury.
"We know that there's a diversity in his game," Beveridge said.
"There's a brilliance in his game but there's a hard edge at times.
"We saw most things tonight - and late in the game, under significant heat, him and Ed (Richards) sort of surged that ball forward."
That surge came in the last minute with scores level and resulted in the go-ahead behind for the Dogs with 24 seconds remaining.
Bontempelli's training loads will continue to be managed ahead of games against Carlton, Melbourne, Collingwood and Hawthorn.
"I don't think he needs a rest," Beveridge said.
"If we get to a point that he is not training through, or he's a bit too sore, we just won't play him.
"But we're managing him week-to-week with what he's doing training-wise and, as you can imagine, he just wants to keep playing.
"That heel is improving, and the knee is, you know, that's problematic but it's it's not getting any worse."
