St Kilda spurred on by Bulldogs' renewed bark

[jeemak]

Re: St Kilda spurred on by Bulldogs' renewed bark

It will be interesting to see how Billings and Bontempelli finish their careers. Whilst I obviously love the Bont, I think Billings once he puts on some weight and adds strength will be an absolute gun.

I'm really looking forward to seeing him play tomorrow, as I'd have been pretty happy in taking him if he'd have slipped to us.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: St Kilda spurred on by Bulldogs' renewed bark

Billings will be a good player, but he's very small. Height isn't everything (ie. Boomer Harvey) but I think it'll be one of his greatest challenges, particularly if/when he moves into the middle. He doesn't have the pace of a Harvey/Dahlhaus and looks much more of an outside type.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but Bonti is/will be miles ahead.

[Happy Days]

Re: St Kilda spurred on by Bulldogs' renewed bark

Billings will be a good player, but he's very small. Height isn't everything (ie. Boomer Harvey) but I think it'll be one of his greatest challenges, particularly if/when he moves into the middle. He doesn't have the pace of a Harvey/Dahlhaus and looks much more of an outside type.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but Bonti is/will be miles ahead.

Yep.

I really think the paradigm has shifted on the makeup of an AFL midfielder. "Being a gun" no longer really cuts it, as a lot more of it is predicated on athletic attributes. Looking at the career arc of a guy like Marc Murphy really reflects this. I was probably hard on Billings but I see him projecting as a very good half forward, not a game breaking midfielder.

The Combine is going to become of far greater use as a recruitment tool as the game continues to develop.

[jeemak]

Re: St Kilda spurred on by Bulldogs' renewed bark

So after an injury affected draft year you don't think a guy that stands at 184 and probably now sitting at 80kg in his second year on a list has a great deal of scope to improve?

I think you guys are kidding yourselves and possibly looking at the midfield in a way that is a bit outdated already. It takes all types these days, and whilst we're lucky to have a guy like Bont on our list - because he can pretty much do everything right now - players like Billings end up finding a way to catch up or already start ahead of the game like a Joel Selwood (how well would Bont and Billings be regarded if they started their careers at Geelong in 2007 like Selwood did?).

Billings has the pedigree to play forward and do well, and also play through the middle and do well. For mine he's a genuine forward utility who can use the ball well, possibly the hardest type of player to find as a recruit. Whilst the Bont has started his career really well, he and Billings won't be that far apart soon enough.

[Remi Moses]

Re: St Kilda spurred on by Bulldogs' renewed bark

Agree with that ^^
Billings will be a super player, but the point of difference is The Bont's size .
He can play just about everywhere

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: St Kilda spurred on by Bulldogs' renewed bark

So after an injury affected draft year you don't think a guy that stands at 184 and probably now sitting at 80kg in his second year on a list has a great deal of scope to improve?

He's on the small side. He'll never be an imposing figure, even in the way of a Selwood/Mitchell who are quite stocky. Billings has an entirely different frame.

Of course he will improve. I don't see him becoming a top 10-15 player in the competition though.

I think you guys are kidding yourselves and possibly looking at the midfield in a way that is a bit outdated already. It takes all types these days, and whilst we're lucky to have a guy like Bont on our list - because he can pretty much do everything right now - players like Billings end up finding a way to catch up or already start ahead of the game like a Joel Selwood (how well would Bont and Billings be regarded if they started their careers at Geelong in 2007 like Selwood did?).

Nobody has said he can't/won't have a good career, or that everyone must be 194cms. However at pick 3, Billings isn't somebody you can build a team around. For mine, he is/will be a classy footballer, but not a match winner in the vein of Bonti and far from a player of Selwood's influence. Totally different styles.

Billings has the pedigree to play forward and do well, and also play through the middle and do well. For mine he's a genuine forward utility who can use the ball well, possibly the hardest type of player to find as a recruit. Whilst the Bont has started his career really well, he and Billings won't be that far apart soon enough.

You sound a little defensive jeemak.

I think Billings will play well up forward and well through the midfield at times, but personally I don't see him getting anywhere near Bonti or Selwood or Mitchell or even Martin. He'll never be a physical beast - which is what the best mids had/have (Judd, Cousins, Kerr, Swan, Pendlebury, Fyfe, Hayes, Watson, Selwood, Mitchell and even our own Libba) and he doesn't have the pace to mirror guys like S. Hill. Billings' greatest attributes are his footy IQ and his ball use.

It doesn't mean he can't be a good player, but in my opinion he won't become a top 10-20 player/mid.

[jeemak]

Re: St Kilda spurred on by Bulldogs' renewed bark

Sorry, I just read that you said that Billings was very small, and that Happy Days suggested that Bontempelli has set a new paradigm for what a midfielder needs to be if dominance is what's being sought after.

If I sounded defencive by suggesting that Billings is 184cm and probably 80kg in his second year, and that midfields are turning towards more diverse structures then I apologise, I didn't mean to. I still think they are though.

Robbie Gray wasn't much of a midfielder utility for the first few years he played, nor was Ablett. But in 2015 after a good 17 preseasons between them they seem to be pretty much as good as it gets in that regard.

I think I'll wait before I start going all in on Billings.

[ledge]

Re: St Kilda spurred on by Bulldogs' renewed bark

We have Honeychurch and Daniel and Liberatore none of them are tall and only one has a stocky build, but all
Three have the ability to win games in my opinion, Billings probably rates above two of them.

[GVGjr]

Re: St Kilda spurred on by Bulldogs' renewed bark

Billings is a unique player and reminds me a bit of Kade Simpson but at the moment he is more of a forward than a pure midfielder.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: St Kilda spurred on by Bulldogs' renewed bark

Sorry, I just read that you said that Billings was very small, and that Happy Days suggested that Bontempelli has set a new paradigm for what a midfielder needs to be if dominance is what's being sought after.

If I sounded defencive by suggesting that Billings is 184cm and probably 80kg in his second year, and that midfields are turning towards more diverse structures then I apologise, I didn't mean to. I still think they are though.

Robbie Gray wasn't much of a midfielder utility for the first few years he played, nor was Ablett. But in 2015 after a good 17 preseasons between them they seem to be pretty much as good as it gets in that regard.

I think I'll wait before I start going all in on Billings.

Perhaps Billings will become a dominant player, but I think he lacks the traits of all the best mids/forwards. He'll never be a physical beast in the contest because he hasn't got the size but more importantly it's not his style either,and whilst Gray and Ablett took some time they were always quite powerful through the hips and good in the contest. They simply needed to work harder/build their tanks. The natural instincts to be a dominant mid were there though. Gray's knee injury set him back a little too.

We have Honeychurch and Daniel and Liberatore none of them are tall and only one has a stocky build, but all
Three have the ability to win games in my opinion, Billings probably rates above two of them.

I like Honeychurch (and the snippets of Daniel) but they are nowhere near match winners, nor top 10-20 players of the competition, and they never will be (which is fine).

Libba is already one of the best mids in the competition and is a physical and competitive animal, even if he isn't the biggest (like Selwood, like Mitchell).

[Happy Days]

Re: St Kilda spurred on by Bulldogs' renewed bark

Jeemak was right...

[jeemak]

Re: St Kilda spurred on by Bulldogs' renewed bark

Jeemak was right...

I can assure you I'm not taking any pleasure in it.

We gave him a little too much latitude today, and he burned us. Nice finisher.

[Mantis]

Re: St Kilda spurred on by Bulldogs' renewed bark

I can assure you I'm not taking any pleasure in it.

We gave him a little too much latitude today, and he burned us. Nice finisher.

A little too much?? That's being generous.

I watched with interest how Hunter tackled playing on Billings late in the game.. To say he was interested in manning up would be a bold statement which was disappointing considering he has a bit to prove.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: St Kilda spurred on by Bulldogs' renewed bark

A little too much?? That's being generous.

I watched with interest how Hunter tackled playing on Billings late in the game.. To say he was interested in manning up would be a bold statement which was disappointing considering he has a bit to prove.

Yep - I was disgusted with Hunter and his performance.

Billings was good but didn't have an opponent anywhere near him in the last quarter.

[jeemak]

Re: St Kilda spurred on by Bulldogs' renewed bark

A little too much?? That's being generous.

I watched with interest how Hunter tackled playing on Billings late in the game.. To say he was interested in manning up would be a bold statement which was disappointing considering he has a bit to prove.

Yep - I was disgusted with Hunter and his performance.

Billings was good but didn't have an opponent anywhere near him in the last quarter.

I commented in the Game Day thread that Hunter had better get a defencive side very quickly. It was clear once he got onto the field he didn't want to get his hands dirty, when that's precisely what he should have been doing. It will see him discarded if he doesn't, irrespective of who his father is.