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Billy Stretch


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18 hours ago, Collar-Jazz-Knee said:

Not really related to Billy, but I saw Gary Lyon was talking about the fact Gold Coast delisted Jarryd Lyons, who had a fantastic season for Brissy this year. They also gave up pick 2 for Lachie Weller and did a future pick swap that was a disaster.

They DO NOT deserve a priority pick, when they make dumb decision like these. It's seriously a joke.

MFC are the last club that should be complaining about this. Our list has been equally mismanaged for even longer than they’ve been around and we’ve had our fair share of priorities. A stone best left unturned for us. 

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1 hour ago, Smokey said:

MFC are the last club that should be complaining about this. Our list has been equally mismanaged for even longer than they’ve been around and we’ve had our fair share of priorities. A stone best left unturned for us. 

I don't care what happened in the past. There's a lot of sides that have benefited from priority picks such as Collingwood, Hawthorn, Carlton & West Coast. I'm talking about right now and the fact is the Gold Coast are responsible for their abysmal list.

Priority picks should be abolished entirely. We have a draft, we have academy selections, we have father son & we have a salary cap. It's an outdated idea that's no longer required.

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17 hours ago, Laughing Goat said:

Ha ha yeah maybe D3 but unfortunately the options that were used in their place didn't do much to excite this year either.

True mate, not much excited us about the year!!

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On 9/25/2019 at 11:57 AM, DeeSpencer said:

I'd actually be interested to see how he went at a new club. Unfortunately he's just been completely paralysed as a footballer at Melbourne. Unwilling or unable to take the game on and improve his skills by learning from mistakes and building confidence.

He played 16 games in 2016, averaged 18 disposals with 1 clanger a game and looked set to have a solid career. 

100% agree with you on this one. He seems to be frozen by fear of making a mistake and turning it over. He doesn't back himself, overthinks his action and then usually coughs it up.

I often wonder if he has been over coached or just mentally afraid of stuffing up and being dropped. Morton ended up being the same after a promising first few years.

Injuries certainly have played a big role as he hasn't had a decent run of games to gain some confidence.

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4 hours ago, BAMF said:

100% agree with you on this one. He seems to be frozen by fear of making a mistake and turning it over. He doesn't back himself, overthinks his action and then usually coughs it up.

I often wonder if he has been over coached or just mentally afraid of stuffing up and being dropped. Morton ended up being the same after a promising first few years.

Injuries certainly have played a big role as he hasn't had a decent run of games to gain some confidence.

His kicking on the run is technically bogus, he wobbles the ball as his runs and then his action is so mechanical that it makes it difficult to hit targets. Hence he favours going back over the mark. Fix the kicking technique and then get him backing his skills and he might just make it. I'm not annoyed we seem to be losing him I just think his development has been very poor.

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On 9/25/2019 at 12:30 PM, Collar-Jazz-Knee said:

Not really related to Billy, but I saw Gary Lyon was talking about the fact Gold Coast delisted Jarryd Lyons, who had a fantastic season for Brissy this year. They also gave up pick 2 for Lachie Weller and did a future pick swap that was a disaster.

They DO NOT deserve a priority pick, when they make dumb decision like these. It's seriously a joke.

Don’t deserve it, but honestly, the same reasons are why they NEED it.

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On 9/25/2019 at 9:45 PM, Dee man said:

If I recall correctly, Clarry credits his work ethic at Melbourne to Billy Stretch and how hard he trains. I think other players have made similar observations. Obviously you've got to bring more to the team than being a good trainer but if keeping Stretch on the list means pushing Clarry an extra 10% and getting the best out of some of your youngsters then he's not the worst player to keep on the list.

Given he plays the position we need most, I'd keep him on the list unless we're confident we can pick up a bargain late in the draft (and that's all we'd get if the Suns traded for him)

I can see Billy ultimately having a similar career trajectory to Jetta. A lockdown small defender, albeit with less aerial ability. Professionalism is high, but he just isn’t an AFL-standard midfielder.

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On 9/25/2019 at 11:57 AM, DeeSpencer said:

I'd actually be interested to see how he went at a new club. Unfortunately he's just been completely paralysed as a footballer at Melbourne. Unwilling or unable to take the game on and improve his skills by learning from mistakes and building confidence.

He played 16 games in 2016, averaged 18 disposals with 1 clanger a game and looked set to have a solid career. 

Instead he loses his position to captain slow from Hawthorn and bounces in and out of the team and now is either out the door or the last man signed up.

I am sick of the Lewis  bashing.

Stretchy has had ample opportunities to establish a regular place on the Dees lineup.

it is no one else's fault but  his snd our Coaching and Development plans.

He is not a half back and really should be an outside wing/runner able to Make space  and Kick expansively into our forward  line in order that  he can play on and deliver without pressure to our forwards.

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22 hours ago, Collar-Jazz-Knee said:

I don't care what happened in the past. There's a lot of sides that have benefited from priority picks such as Collingwood, Hawthorn, Carlton & West Coast. I'm talking about right now and the fact is the Gold Coast are responsible for their abysmal list.

Priority picks should be abolished entirely. We have a draft, we have academy selections, we have father son & we have a salary cap. It's an outdated idea that's no longer required.

I’m just as upset as anyone we are losing pick 2, but to say gold coast don’t deserve any help right now (as many clubs, include or own, have received in the past) is just wrong. If we didn’t make finals in 2018 there’d be a case for us to get a priority this year, and I’m sure you’d be relishing that if it were the case.

regardless of where you stand on the latest expansion teams, for the sake of the game do you really want Gold Coast to not improve at all? The game benefits not from having a team that gets smashed every week. 

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22 hours ago, Collar-Jazz-Knee said:

I don't care what happened in the past. There's a lot of sides that have benefited from priority picks such as Collingwood, Hawthorn, Carlton & West Coast. I'm talking about right now and the fact is the Gold Coast are responsible for their abysmal list.

Priority picks should be abolished entirely. We have a draft, we have academy selections, we have father son & we have a salary cap. It's an outdated idea that's no longer required.

By definition a priority pick is awarded to bad clubs. You don't finish last without an element of mismanagement. Saying GC don't deserve a priority pick because they managed their list poorly misses the point by the length of the Milky Way.

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13 hours ago, samcantstandya said:

It's hard to understand the rationale.

Absolutely mind boggling decisions. Soft decisions from a soft club. I’d have at least thought that we’d have held onto Stretch before both of those two.

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On 9/25/2019 at 12:58 PM, Patches O’houlihan said:

He's got great training standards, and seems like a wonderful young man but just doesn't quite seem to be an AFL level player. he's a very good VFL player at this stage.

if you as an outside mid can't break into a side with no outside mids consistently you're maybe just not quite up to it.

Have to agree. He is a great young bloke to talk to and seems very popular around the club.

Goodwin has not advanced him since Roos left. But he hasn’t somehow been told to run run run and take the game on.  He stops and waits.   

Hope he finds a place.  Too good to simply delist.  Trade to Suns for pick 50ish (start of round 4) is probably fair. 

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1 hour ago, praha said:

By definition a priority pick is awarded to bad clubs. You don't finish last without an element of mismanagement. Saying GC don't deserve a priority pick because they managed their list poorly misses the point by the length of the Milky Way.

My point is there should be no priority picks. It's up to each club to sort themselves out, not the AFL granting extra picks.

Besides, it's looking likely the Suns may get Brad Crouch and Brandon Ellis, so this shows they can do it themselves.

I'm all for giving them additional salary cap to pay players more, but giving them extra draft picks is a waste of time.

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35 minutes ago, Fifty-5 said:

Unsure why Billy was never tried in the ANB role. Has similar aerobic attributes and discipline and is a better tackler and kick.

Agreed. 

Interesting that in 2016 Roos kept selecting Stretch (16 games) ahead of ANB (4 games).  When Goodwin took over in 2017 it was ANB who played seniors ahead of Stretch.  The main stat that is different is tackles (quantity not necessarily quality) in ANB's favour.

I guess different coaches saw different things.

I'm sure coaches have worked on Stretch's 'weakness' which seem to be slow to play on but imv his weakness hurts us much less than ANB's turnovers that catch our zone defence out of position.   At least Billy's 'weakness' gives our forwards a chance to get back into position when they push high up the ground.

Stretch would do well in a team that has a 'control' tempo based game style which relies on marking and accurate kicking rather than our 'ballistic' play on style.  My guess is the 'control' skills is what Roos' saw in Stretch.  He suited the Roos 'defence-first' game style.

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2 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Agreed. 

Interesting that in 2016 Roos kept selecting Stretch (16 games) ahead of ANB (4 games).  When Goodwin took over in 2017 it was ANB who played seniors ahead of Stretch.  The main stat that is different is tackles in ANB's favour.

I guess different coaches saw different things.

I'm sure coaches have worked on Stretch's 'weaknesses' which seem to be slow to play on but imv his weaknesses hurt us much less than ANB's turnovers that catch our zone defence out of position. 

Stretch would do well in a team that has a 'control' tempo based game style which relies on marking and accurate kicking rather than our 'ballistic' play on style.  My guess that is those 'control' skills is Roos' saw in Stretch.  He suited the Roos 'defence-first' game style.

From memory, 2016 was the year they basically gave ANB a development year and played him as an inside mid at Casey to work on his intent, involvement and pressure. It worked. He had a ripper year at that level and the 2 years after that he was very good.

Stretch hasn't had that opportunity unfortunately as, IMO, Goodwin flip flops around more than Roos with selection, roles etc.

People are forgetting how good ANB was in 17-18 for us, and his games during that time were miles and miles ahead of anything Stretch has produced at senior level under any coach.

Sad to lose Billy, he's VERY highly rated as far as training standards and culture goes, but let's be honest here, looking at their games over their careers, not just their stats (different roles anyway), ANB is a fair way ahead of Stretch as far as impacting games.

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On 9/25/2019 at 10:41 PM, Jaded said:

We don’t want to keep Stretch which is fair enough, but Josh Wagner and Neal Bullen get 2 more years?! Jesus. 

I think you will find that Wagner.J. only has a one year extension. A 2 year deal for someone with his limitations would have been a list management own goal.

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6 hours ago, Mach5 said:

I can see Billy ultimately having a similar career trajectory to Jetta. A lockdown small defender, albeit with less aerial ability. Professionalism is high, but he just isn’t an AFL-standard midfielder.

Jetta - a heap of power, limited endurance, excellent overhead  

Stretch - no power, good endurance, poor overhead 

He has to go play wing, high half forward or as the up the ground back flanker. I don’t mind him in the sweeping flanker role but that’s a long way from a lock down defender. 

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6 hours ago, Smokey said:

I’m just as upset as anyone we are losing pick 2, but to say gold coast don’t deserve any help right now (as many clubs, include or own, have received in the past) is just wrong. If we didn’t make finals in 2018 there’d be a case for us to get a priority this year, and I’m sure you’d be relishing that if it were the case.

regardless of where you stand on the latest expansion teams, for the sake of the game do you really want Gold Coast to not improve at all? The game benefits not from having a team that gets smashed every week. 

They have twice as much talent as we did in 2013/2014 and we didn’t get a pick then. Let the league fudge their salary cap so they can sign Ellis and Brad Couch if they can get him. The problem with the priority pick is if it works out it’s a 15 year benefit when all they need is a short term boost. 

Brisbane were in the same spot, got pick 19 which became Cedric Cox. Imagine if they got pick 1 and got Andy McGrath or Tim Taranto! 

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6 hours ago, 58er said:

I am sick of the Lewis  bashing.

Stretchy has had ample opportunities to establish a regular place on the Dees lineup.

it is no one else's fault but  his snd our Coaching and Development plans.

He is not a half back and really should be an outside wing/runner able to Make space  and Kick expansively into our forward  line in order that  he can play on and deliver without pressure to our forwards.

Jordan Lewis: average 16 disposals, 74% efficiency, 2.5 turnovers, 4.2 contested poss & 1 tackle

Billy Stretch: average 17 disposals, 77% efficiency, 2.2 turnovers, 5.3 contested poss & 3 tackles

I know who I would prefer.

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2 hours ago, Fifty-5 said:

Unsure why Billy was never tried in the ANB role. Has similar aerobic attributes and discipline and is a better tackler and kick.

Because Billy's brain doesn't move fast enough. He's one of the slowest decision makers I've seen. 

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32 minutes ago, Smokey said:

Because Billy's brain doesn't move fast enough. He's one of the slowest decision makers I've seen. 

The decisions with ball in hand in the ANB role are much simpler than the decisions on the wing. Kick goal, kick to leading teammate, kick to top of the square. 

Billy's exacting personality hurt him up the field because he is afraid of making bad decisions.

He never got the chance to play ANB's simpler role so comparisons are not valid.

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