Traded Jack Billings

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http://www.aflplayers.com.au/article/mcdonald-keeps-a-close-eye-on-billings/

McDonald keeps a close eye on Billings

You could easily be forgiven for believing St Kilda’s Jack Billings and North Melbourne’s Luke McDonald were brothers because they’ve been almost inseparable since meeting in Auskick.

Their journeys filled with multiple junior premierships, multiple representative team commitments and multiple best and fairest awards.

So it was only fitting that McDonald was in attendance to see Billings produce the game of his career against Carlton on Saturday afternoon, with the young Saint collecting 30 disposals and five goals.

Perhaps the biggest challenge Billings has faced is the constant criticism, having been selected one pick ahead of Marcus Bontempelli, with many media pundits questioning his potential.

All of that aside, McDonald believes his handling of the matter has been exemplary.

“The way he has handled all the articles being written about him and the pressure placed on him has been great, I couldn’t imagine going through all that.

“No one would have guessed ‘The Bont’ would have been as good as a player as he has become. In saying that, it’s only the fourth year of their career so it would be good to compare him in ten year’s time. There’s no point in comparing them now.

“There’s always going to be that comparison because they’re just one number apart but I know in Jack’s head that doesn’t matter at all. He just wants to play good footy and at the end of the day the draft pick is just a number.”

(#underlining is mine added)
 

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Billings will be playing the all important Game number 51 this week against Sydney on Saturday. You usually find players when they retire like to look back at milestone games and talk about how they performed on that day , Game 51 is certainly one of those games.


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Very disappointing game for the Saints going down by 50 points to the Swans at our home . One of those days for most players however Billings played well just didn't get on the score board. He had 32 disposals, 15 kicks and 17 handballs , 7 marks and 3 tackles to be one of our best players again . His great form continues but the ball wasn't getting to our forwards so he had to go in search of it . May have been moved further up the ground after Newnes was concussed early on which disrupted our side especially with Webster out with a broken hand.


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Brains Trust66 said:
Very disappointing game for the Saints going down by 50 points to the Swans at our home . One of those days for most players however Billings played well just didn't get on the score board. He had 32 disposals, 15 kicks and 17 handballs , 7 marks and 3 tackles to be one of our best players again . His great form continues but the ball wasn't getting to our forwards so he had to go in search of it . May have been moved further up the ground after Newnes was concussed early on which disrupted our side especially with Webster out with a broken hand.


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He was one of the top handful of rebounders from 50. ( only behind Roberton for the Saints ).
 
Couple little pieces from JB here: http://www.saints.com.au/news/2017-...-important-forward-to-play-midfield-right-now

This time, Billings set a new personal best with 32 disposals, eight score involvements and five rebound 50s, taking his average disposal haul across the last six weeks to just over 25 per game.

“It’s a great question [where he is best suited]. I reckon we’ve probably tried a little bit too early to turn him into a midfielder; he’s a very special forward,” Richardson said on The Sunday Footy Show after St Kilda’s loss to Sydney.

“He’s had 30 possessions two weeks in a row and I know it’s not all about numbers but when he gets the ball, and we haven’t been great in terms of the connect, generally something comes of it.

“Last week he was able to fill his boots in terms of scoring and kick five.

“He’s heading the right way, eventually he’ll move more into the midfield but right now he’s just too talented for us in the front half.”

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Another disappointing game by the Saints. Billings had one of his less exciting performances of the year. He had 9 kicks and 7 handballs, 4 tackles and 2 marks . He also kicked a very early goal but had no effect on the scoreboard after that.


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Thanks to Brains Trust66, karaoke and Armitage2Riewoldt for keeping the JB thread up to date while I was away, especially BT66 who did match reports each week.

I'm back now and champing at the bit to see the Saints play. Shame it's on TV but it will help with my match fitness to watch my first game in over a month from the couch. Jack didn't have the best game last week, stats-wise one of his worst of the season. I'm looking for Jack and StK to bounce back with strong performances. It will be tough to win with the Crows on the rebound and our past efforts in Adelaide but the GWS game proved we can beat anyone if we play at our best.
 
dct66 said:
Thanks to Brains Trust66, karaoke and Armitage2Riewoldt for keeping the JB thread up to date while I was away, especially BT66 who did match reports each week.

I'm back now and champing at the bit to see the Saints play. Shame it's on TV but it will help with my match fitness to watch my first game in over a month from the couch. Jack didn't have the best game last week, stats-wise one of his worst of the season. I'm looking for Jack and StK to bounce back with strong performances. It will be tough to win with the Crows on the rebound and our past efforts in Adelaide but the GWS game proved we can beat anyone if we play at our best.
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Great to have you back dct66 as Billings was just starting to feel the pressure of you not being here to do his stats the way you do which is much easier to read than the way I do them , lol.


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Callum Twomey has written a piece on Jack for afl.com.au. Entitiled The kindest cut: How Richo's axe helped Jack, it reflects on how Jack was dropped almost exactly a year ago and how he was determined during his first injury-free off-season to work harder to improve his match play.

"There was a fair bit of stuff written about me that I'd had a really bad year last year. But my numbers were still OK. I had high expectations and the positive was how much improvement I had in me going into the summer and the next season"

"I'm progressing OK and playing some strong footy. But I think I can definitely take my game to the next level in the second half of this year and I really want to win some games and play finals for the first time"

A very positive article at a good time in the season for Jack. He needs to shake off the ordinary performance against the Bulldogs and get back to the form he showed in the previous three weeks which are highlighted in the article. You can read the whole thing at http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-06-08/the-kindest-cut-how-richos-axe-helped-jack-billings.
 
Despite my earlier pronouncements that I was 'champing at the bit' to see the Saints play, I didn't watch the game and I don't intend to seek out a replay. Jack seems to have played well from his stats. 10 Kicks, 15 Handballs, 2 Tackles, 2 Clearances, 1 Clanger, 6 inside 50s, 1 1%er, 1 Goal, 1 Behind, 84% DE from 86% Time on Ground.

Twenty-five possessions at 84% DE is a good sign to me.
 
Anyone know anything about him signing a new contract? Have heard a few things here and there but nothing concrete. Nothing to be concerned about but would like to get him signed up sooner rather than later.
 

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nanganator said:
Anyone know anything about him signing a new contract? Have heard a few things here and there but nothing concrete. Nothing to be concerned about but would like to get him signed up sooner rather than later.
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The article I linked to a couple of posts ago quoted him as saying "I'm not really involved with [the contract], but I'm hoping to get something done soon"
 
In the channel 7 after match with BT, Jack Steven said Billings's nickname is "Latté". BT asked why and Steven said "that's a story for another day".

Anyone know the story?
 
St_Laz said:
In the channel 7 after match with BT, Jack Steven said Billings's nickname is "Latté". BT asked why and Steven said "that's a story for another day".

Anyone know the story?
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I haven't heard that one and that Jack Steven is a cheeky little bugger so who knows! :)
 
Another good game by Jack against the Roos. Not huge stats but as we know he had two goals early when we established our break and but for a couple of NM fingernails would have had 4 but half way through the second. Could have then added another late when he snatched at the kick. Perhaps there wasn't enough talking, perhaps he was stuffed, perhaps he just panicked

Anyway he is putting together a nice run of games this season showing us what we have to look forward to in the years to come.

For the record his main stats were ...

11 kicks, 7 handballs, 3 clangers, 1 clearance, 8 tackles, 1 1%er, 5 I50s, 2 Goals, 4 Behinds, ToG 89%, DE 55.6%
 
St_Laz said:
In the channel 7 after match with BT, Jack Steven said Billings's nickname is "Latté". BT asked why and Steven said "that's a story for another day".

Anyone know the story?
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Crap. I would suggest callers (I wouldn't ever call them Announcers) have no idea.




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“I think early in the year as we started to improve as a team, sides put a lot more work into us and tried to restrict us with the ball,” Billings said.

“It probably took a few weeks to work around that and this week we focused on really being more bold with the footy and trying to take the game on a bit more, which seemed to work.

“We had three tough weeks. We played some good sides, but we probably weren’t playing our best footy, so it was good to bounce back tonight and get a win.

“I think we’re a reflection of the whole competition this year where anyone can win any week. I guess for us moving forward we’ve got to be on our game every week and it doesn’t matter who we’re playing we’re a big chance to win and play the game we know we can because it works.”

“It’s been good. I’m playing predominantly forward, but also up on the wing as well,” Billings said.

“It’s been good to get involved around the footy and get my hands on the ball and I’m enjoying the variety.”

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/jac...s/news-story/ac6583f2fab026603a3a06f45e33dd64
 
St_Laz said:
In the channel 7 after match with BT, Jack Steven said Billings's nickname is "Latté". BT asked why and Steven said "that's a story for another day".

Anyone know the story?
Click to expand...

I saw somewhere someone had the reason, I'll try find it again, it had something to do with a trip to Europe about 7 of them did last year . Paddy told the story, I'll go look for it.

Ok found it

3106b5252e13958d8089088f685e4cd9.jpg

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Another very good game from Jack today against the Suns. He is stringing together the consistent footy that we've been craving for. Lovely goal that he kicked himself on the run from the 50. Lovely pass to Rooey's chest in the goal square and the exquisite handball out of traffic to his best mate Jack Sinclair for another assist.

Here's the raw stats. 16 Kicks, 14 Handballs, 1 Tackles, 4 Clearances, 2 Clanger, 7 inside 50s, 1 1%er, 1 Goal, 1 Behind, 80% DE from 86% Time on Ground.

Eighty percent DE from eighty-six percent TOG. Nice numbers Jack!
 
He was best on ground again , he's been very good this season, very consistent. Happy for him as it's stopped all the melts about whether we should have taken Bont instead . Both are good players but different styles. Really you would want both in your side if you could.


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Traded Jack Billings

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