WELCOME TO THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB - BILLY STRETCH

[Its Time for Another 4,225]

Bate v Koutafides.

Pendlebury v Gysberts.

Mitchell v Valenti.

Morton v Fyfe.

Height and weight profiles definitely do not decide a player's future.

Select on skill, athleticism, awareness, work ethic, all these things. With a little luck you'll end up with a good mix of bodies to keep the variety of options open.

This year's Premiers midfield and some halfbacks.

Ben McGlynn 172

Kieren Jack 178

Craig Bird 179

Jake Lloyd 180

H Cunningham 181

Dan Hannebery 181

Lewis Jetta 181

Zak Jones 181

Tom Mitchell 181

Brandon Jack 182

Rhyce Shaw 182

Nick Smith 183

Jarrod McVeigh 184

Luke Parker 184

Only Josh Kennedy is 188 in the midfield.

Malceski is 188 off the half back line.

Zak Jones is out of the team because of injury and Mitchell has been injured a lot and hasn't cemented his place back in the team this year but will if he stays. Otherwise all other players are pretty much permanent members of the 22.

Kind of proves height in the midfield is overrated. They seem to be reasonable competitive. It's the midfield winning games not the power forwards. They are just finishing off the midfields work.

Edited August 1, 2014 by It's Time

[Ted Lasso 19,521]

I actually think being short has an advantage if the player is a strong ball winner, always a good chance of drawing high contact, makes them especially dangerous in our side where we try and force stoppages.

[rjay 24,964]

Only Josh Kennedy is 188 in the midfield.

Malceski is 188 off the half back line.

Funny, I always thought Kennedy was taller than 188.

[Ted Lasso 19,521]

Funny, I always thought Kennedy was taller than 188.

I always thought he was 192 or 193, he certainly looks taller than 188

[rjay 24,964]

I always thought he was 192 or 193, he certainly looks taller than 188

I thought the same, he was always talked up by the commentators as being the size of a KPP.

[ijbfossil 77]

The wonders of photo shop pro - or similar

Just wanted to have another peek - but the pic didn't come with the quote.

[Earl Hood 6,086]

I actually think being short has an advantage if the player is a strong ball winner, always a good chance of drawing high contact, makes them especially dangerous in our side where we try and force stoppages.

Yes A low centre of gravity certainly helps, short, strong legs and strong core, but you still need heaps of skill, agility and controlled agression.

[dee-luded 2,959]

Billy is definitely a second/ third round pick.Quite small and very thin....would be cut to ribbons if he played in2015.But fast and a great kick like his old man...Will make it but body needs a lot of work.

thats what i reckon in a contested footy regime. we don't want any aarons in this style of play, not only do they have to chase, but they have to dump the opponent into the ground, legally. al la the swans.

playing tag is not enough. IMO he will take 3 preseasons, to get to the stage of bringing down the average AFL payer of today. his run & skills will be fine. so on his physical timeframe, I reckon around P30 - P40.

[dee-luded 2,959]

The Hill brothers, Lewis Jetta and Andrew Gaff spring to mind. Anyway, nobody is totally outside.

an outside runner were you tim

[dee-luded 2,959]

A Club will offer a 2nd round for Billy but fortunately it will be one of the 14 or 15 that finish above us which means we will use our 3rd rounder.

Our 2nd round too high, our 3rd rounder is a small win.

that would be fair enough IMO. he's too slight at this time for what we need. I think we need to spend our 1st & 2 Rnd picks, on players of stronger builds who can play sooner rather than later.

hopefully this is the way it will pan out anyway.

[dee-luded 2,959]

Let's hope the Farmer boys aren't far off either.

Ditto.

[dee-luded 2,959]

Stephen Hill was one of the skinniest players I can remember being drafted. As it turns out, an argument could be made that he should have been drafted at number 1.

The point is, teams need a combination of outside class and inside grunt. We currently don't have that as we lack both class and grunt.

Everyone complains about the turnovers, but then want to overlook classy ball users and draft nothing but grunt. It's strange.

when Hill was recruited the game hadn't swung a much to real contested footy, as it is now. Hill was a real gut runner, & they were like gold in his draft era. Still are, but physical strength has now re-balanced things.

the draft camp will be interesting.

If they reduce the interchanges further, then more space will be Stretches friend.

[dee-luded 2,959]

hey picket, you been taking lessons from dee-luded?

what a straight shooter.. all the handbags, & other accessorites, they just come out of the shadows to throw stones, when they think they have others support.

Its like the pathetic little bullies at school, encircling you & bullying you, when they've got numbers as backup they are tough, until you belt them in the eye. They thought you couldn't, & then the sucker turns up with the whole of one side of their face blackened, & very apologetic.

& years later at school reunions, still afraid & apologetic. and they are still small, & you've put on about 40 kegs of muscle since then.

[dee-luded 2,959]

didn't realise that Thompson did that - I thought he got homesick and asked to be traded back to Adelaide.

I believe he'd had enough of Daniher's lack of faith in him. so got n his bike like Jolly.

[Deemotivated 550]

Stop carping on about Stretch needing 3 pre seasons and he's too skinny.. I flicked over to suns v saints game and there's quite a few skinny kids really cracking in... Jack Martin, Billings, Lemmens... None of them would be much bigger if at all than Billy.

[dee-luded 2,959]

Temper temper!! Sorry to offend. It was just an aside. Hope your weekend gets better.

spots don't change tim.

[dee-luded 2,959]

does anyone think Billy will play senior footy in 2015?

Very excited about this kid btw

Cant wait in a couple of years time when our centreline reads

C - Stretch Viney Lovett

you'll have to wait till at least 2016-17 for that centreline H_H.

[dee-luded 2,959]

Yet you are not capable of articulating a reason why he is worth only a third round pick, so I put it to you

he has speed, something we lack

he breaks lines, something we lack

he has class, something we really lack

he has good skills, something we lack

he can win his own ball

he has been selected in the All Australian team after being a big part of why South Australia won the nationals

over to you picket, why is he only worth a third round pick? ( being an " outside mid" doesn't count as a reason), you either have a legitimate knock on the kids game or you are just a rambling fool who has really no idea what he is talking about.

so does Jarrod Picket, & he's rated about P12. & that same person rates Stretcher around P19ish. so if we need that run & carry so much above other skills, then we should go for picket with one of our early picks ?

[dee-luded 2,959]

What kind of knobhead talks about 'his spies' on an internet forum?

that same sort of [censored], who picks on others for mentioning their contacts, in those terms, I would think.

[dee-luded 2,959]

Stop carping on about Stretch needing 3 pre seasons and he's too skinny.. I flicked over to suns v saints game and there's quite a few skinny kids really cracking in... Jack Martin, Billings, Lemmens... None of them would be much bigger if at all than Billy.

your confusing size & strength maybe.

Jack Martin is a number 1 pick taken a year early in a mini draft. exceptional kid & acception to the rule. He has already been thru 2 preseasons now.

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Billings is a very strong nuggety type player, who has very good power for leverage in his frame. not a surprise for him to have adequate strength because of his shape. i always expected him to come on sooner because of this.

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Lemmens I'm not familiar with. maybe just giving him a taste to see where he's at late in the season before its over. Time will tell how many games he has played by 2016.

[dazzledavey36 54,998]

your confusing size & strength maybe.

Jack Martin is a number 1 pick taken a year early in a mini draft. exceptional kid & acception to the rule. He has already been thru 2 preseasons now.

-----------------------------------

Billings is a very strong nuggety type player, who has very good power for leverage in his frame. not a surprise for him to have adequate strength because of his shape. i always expected him to come on sooner because of this.

-----------------------------------

Lemmens I'm not familiar with. maybe just giving him a taste to see where he's at late in the season before its over. Time will tell how many games he has played by 2016.

Funny how you haven't mentioned James Aish who is absolutely built like a stick and playing real well atm.

Stretch is already playing against men in the SANFL and doing quite well.

He will be fine.

[dee-luded 2,959]

We are crying out for this type of player, here is one who bleeds red and blue

for goodness sake, you starting to sound like you think we don't want him on our list. we don't want to spend a pick earlier than P25 on him. surely you get that?

& we need a lot more than just run & carry. and we already have Kent in that mold, as well as JK-H can help here. we have pretty little in the mold of a Hodge & Mitchell types of their inside class.

so if you said, would I take a Hodge, a Mitchell, or a CRioli first up, I would take the Insiders first, then add cyril as the icing.

Edited August 2, 2014 by dee-luded

[baysidedave 246]

I believe he'd had enough of Daniher's lack of faith in him. so got n his bike like Jolly.

He was homesick for his mummy

[Dr. Gonzo 24,235]

Yeh, I had the same reaction when I first found this out. Interesting comparison is that Dermott Brereton is also 189cm. Funnily enough I always thought he was a better CHF than G Lyon because Lyon was too short for the position compared to Brereton. Lyon is 193. So, so much for that theory. I thought it would be more the other way round. Just out of interest that short ass run with player Cameron Ling, is wait for it, 189cm. Wouldn't have picked that either. And that short arse forward pocket Stevie Johnston. You guessed 189cm. I've started checking heights of players a lot more nowadays.

It's quite ridiculous how big most players are these days. I remember running into Aaron Davey and surprised he was almost the same height as me but he looked like a midget out on the field (just checked now and he's 177cm I'm 179cm)

[Deemotivated 550]

your confusing size & strength maybe.

Jack Martin is a number 1 pick taken a year early in a mini draft. exceptional kid & acception to the rule. He has already been thru 2 preseasons now.

-----------------------------------

Billings is a very strong nuggety type player, who has very good power for leverage in his frame. not a surprise for him to have adequate strength because of his shape. i always expected him to come on sooner because of this.

-----------------------------------

Lemmens I'm not familiar with. maybe just giving him a taste to see where he's at late in the season before its over. Time will tell how many games he has played by 2016.

These are just a few twigs that stood out from this match. There's plenty of others.

I'm not confusing size and strength I'm offering a perspective that you don't have to be 95kg and 190cm. All these guys are slight and regardless of martins 2 preseasons he's still scrawny.

I think what is more important than brawn in 1st and 2nd year players is an appetite for the contest. The players above all go hard at the ball and don't shirk a contest. That's what I'd be looking at from Billy.

Another thing is I'm hoping Stretch isn't required to play before 2016 and that if he debuts its because he is murdering the VFL.