Billings

[Zed]

His decision making and ball use was exquisite today.

[bigred]

You gotta love players that can kick.

And kick on both sides.

[yipper]

Reminds me of George Young. Moves like him and such a beautiful, penetrating left foot kick. He is a genuine star young Jack.

[PADDLEPOP1001]

George was my favourite player & Billings does have certain characteristics of him!

[prwilkinson]

Rarely wastes the footy young Billo..... He just oozes class and sealed the game for us yesterday. I think we're going to love watching him play for years to come.

[Bluthy]

Even when he doesn't have a target short and he pulls the trigger on a long kick - for others it would be an up and under bomb - but his kicks have such penetration in it and he knows exactly where the hotspot is to kick it to, that its so dangerous. He won't be allowed to run around on his own like he did yesterday against the good teams so is going to need to keep working on his tank to get away from run-with players. But 30 possies is another great step up for the kid. I hate to use the word but he is looking like our Franchise player - a superstar they can market as the face of the club.

[avid]

Sad to see that first free against come up. I was enjoying Jack's record streak.
Does anyone know exactly what the record is/was for games without a free against?

[The OtherThommo]

Even when he doesn't have a target short and he pulls the trigger on a long kick - for others it would be an up and under bomb - but his kicks have such penetration in it and he knows exactly where the hotspot is to kick it to, that its so dangerous. He won't be allowed to run around on his own like he did yesterday against the good teams so is going to need to keep working on his tank to get away from run-with players. But 30 possies is another great step up for the kid. I hate to use the word but he is looking like our Franchise player - a superstar they can market as the face of the club.

Barring physical hiccoughs, and he's had a few already (including his last year of TAC Cup, when he played a fair bit of the year without being able to train properly), the kid will be in the best few players in the competition.

He has the whole package, with a couple of stand out features.

And, don't worry about the run with types, Bluthy - a big part of JB's package is what goes on in his head. He has that perception that lets him see what is likely to unfold before most others. Coaches can't teach it, but they can learn how to best exploit it.

[George27]

George was my favourite player & Billings does have certain characteristics of him!

George was my favourite too - hence the name I use for this forum. Both beautiful left footers, and Jack has a better right foot than George , who may have had maybe three right foot kicks in his career !!! The lad has a way to go to reach the heights of the great number 27 ( eg 1973 Elimination Final , 24 kicks , 14 marks, 6 goals) , but he is not yet 21 and watching his journey will be a lot of fun.

[To the top]

So Draft Picks 3, 10, 18 and 19 from that year - and all pretty handy representing the longer term future of the Club.

[Goose is king]

That was a super draft. So many guns. And I'm loving Billings more than the two picked ahead of him. Bont and Cripps are also amazing. But as I said last year when people were creaming over Bont I'm backing in our boy
And to think Boyd was considered the clear number 1 all year

[SemperFidelis]

Reminds me of Dal when he has the ball in his hands. An extra second or two to make a decision. And silky. Lots to look forward to ...

[The OtherThommo]

Another pleasing part of his game on Satdee was how he worked back. And, as is part of the package, when he did work back he a) got into spots to provide an option to the bloke deeper with the ball, and b) when that bloke got the ball to him, JB got us out and made sure we still had the ball. Add in 2 conversions from 50, including one when he was obviously stuffed, and that was a high quality performance in difficult circumstances (due to the lack of a bench).

All that with very high ground time for a kid who hasn't played many games, and still hasn't had a preseason that hasn't been significantly disrupted.

Many portents are grim, but not this one.