Saintsational Fan Forum - A passionate community of St Kilda Football Club fans discussing news, history, players, trade rumours, results, AFL stats and more.
Joffa Burns wrote: ↑Sun 25 Oct 2020 11:07am
Cant believe people bitch about Billings because he’s not Bont.
It’s not like he’s a bust @ #3.
He’s a good AFL player who’ll play 250 games and if we are a force late in his career could be a twitch Edwards style gun.
Bitch about our known stupidity like taking McCartin for sure, but Billings drafting is a win for us.
If Ben is better than Max over 10 years we’ll be bemoaning taking the dud brother.
Some terrible drafting has been turned around since 2017 with Clark, Coffield, Paton, Battle, King all looking 200 game players.
Billings is not a bust at 3 he’s just not elite and Is never going to be which most clubs at pick 3 in a draft would be aiming for.
That’s just the facts but many don’t like to admit them.
IF Billings could help us secure a Taranto type I’d do it in a heart beat and reckon we could find a suit@ble ok player to match Billings output
Billings is also a player that I fear when the pressure comes on.....goes missing....as we saw last night finals are won in moments by class that can hold its nerve so any midfield upgrade with Jack as bait and I’m in
Joffa Burns wrote: ↑Sun 25 Oct 2020 11:07am
Cant believe people bitch about Billings because he’s not Bont.
Supposedly, there were recruiters at GWS who wanted to take Bont and Kelly. That would have left Boyd to us, which might have prevented us taking McCartin - but maybe not. Either way isn't great. In any case, if we didn't take Petracca on account of some bogus psych test and we didn't need McCartin, maybe we end up with Brayshaw. All of this is a long way of saying it could be worse.
I also wonder if you flip Billings and Bont whether they naturally develop into the players they are today. Richo was so reluctant to play Billings as anything but a forward in his early days, despite erratic form and worse goalkicking. He would mention Toby Greene at press conferences as an example of what he thought Billings could turn into. I don't think many of us were hoping for a Toby Greene when Billings name was read out at pick 3. I can definitely imagine a scenario where Richo decides Bont is going to be a strong-bodied half forward and Bevo develops Billings into the mid we all hoped he would be.
This is pure exaggeration to say the least.
From reports, Petracca acted like a flog in his interview and made it clear he did not want to travel to Seaford.
Billings going at pick 3 is just historical background now. He is the player he is and I don't think he would be any better under Bevo.
Ratten might need to start using him a bit differently. Perhaps back to HF, or even HB which would be a total experiment but a straight swap with Clark.
Billings looks his best at high half forward to me, has looked AA at times in this role.
Runs well both ways and hits the scoreboard.
Loading the midfield with more talent and using Billings permanent half forward (as opposed to Kent) as many others have written would put us in a premiership window.
A forward line of King, Marshall, Membrey, Gresham, Billings, Butler, Lonie is up there with any in the league.
Beautifully put.
Just bewdifull
Holder of unacceptable views and other thought crimes.
SaintPav wrote: ↑Sun 25 Oct 2020 12:15pmFrom reports, Petracca acted like a flog in his interview and made it clear he did not want to travel to Seaford.
I'd like to read these reports. The Age reported at the time and the Herald Sun reported more recently (behind a paywall) that psych evaluation factored into the pick. Perhaps it wasn't the decisive factor, but my point was that, under a scenario where we took Tom Boyd the previous year, we might not have taken Petracca the next year. I don't see how it matters whether it's because of psych evaluation or Petracca tanking an interview.
I guess all I'm saying is that if he did that in his interview, it would have put the club in a real bind.
Holder of unacceptable views and other thought crimes.
Joffa Burns wrote: ↑Sun 25 Oct 2020 11:07am
Cant believe people bitch about Billings because he’s not Bont.
It’s not like he’s a bust @ #3.
He’s a good AFL player who’ll play 250 games and if we are a force late in his career could be a twitch Edwards style gun.
Bitch about our known stupidity like taking McCartin for sure, but Billings drafting is a win for us.
If Ben is better than Max over 10 years we’ll be bemoaning taking the dud brother.
Some terrible drafting has been turned around since 2017 with Clark, Coffield, Paton, Battle, King all looking 200 game players.
Billings is not a bust at 3 he’s just not elite and Is never going to be which most clubs at pick 3 in a draft would be aiming for.
That’s just the facts but many don’t like to admit them.
IF Billings could help us secure a Taranto type I’d do it in a heart beat and reckon we could find a suit@ble ok player to match Billings output
Billings is also a player that I fear when the pressure comes on.....goes missing....as we saw last night finals are won in moments by class that can hold its nerve so any midfield upgrade with Jack as bait and I’m in
Looking at the drafts from 2010 to 2017 (after 2017 the players haven't had the opportunity as yet) Billings selection at #3 stands up very well in comparison to the top #3 draft picks in that period.
Only the highlighted players would be superior to Billings IMO.
Not a champion but a very solid top #3 selection IMO.
