bontempelli

[bigcarl]

The draft is a bit of a lottery and there are no guarantees. It's an exercise that becomes much, much easier with the benefit of hindsight.

Bontempelli is one out of the box, no doubt.

I'll be happy if Billings develops into just a good player but I think it's more probable he will become a star.

He certainly has the equipment to and I think we'll see vast improvement over the next few seasons.

Meanwhile I'm excited about a couple of guys we got at 18 and 19, Acres and Gresham. And also a forward we picked up from Sydney for bugger all.

We'll have our share of bargains and of busts, you can be sure of that.

[BigMart]

He's a bonafide star of the comp

He'll be a B&F winner
A Capain
An AA at 20yo

Please don't embarrass yourself by trying to mount an argument that JB is anywhere near him

Only Pat Cripps from 2013 is in his ball park

JB is at the moment just above a fringe AFL footballer

[saintsRrising]

He's a bonafide star of the comp

He'll be a B&F winner
A Capain
An AA at 20yo

Please don't embarrass yourself by trying to mount an argument that JB is anywhere near him

Only Pat Cripps from 2013 is in his ball park

JB is at the moment just above a fringe AFL footballer

I am with BiGMart on this one.

Where a player is taken, is just where they were picked and means virtually nothing afterwards.

Billings may well get better. But the Bont is looking to be one of the rare absolute guns of the competition. There is now no doubt that he will in the long-term be at a minimum a very good player for the Dogs and will probably be a lot, lot more.

Billings is still unfortunately an "if" player still. Let us hope that he has just been held back by injuries, niggles and a lack of confidence and that he will improve greatly. But that is a "hope".

[CURLY]

He's a bonafide star of the comp

He'll be a B&F winner
A Capain
An AA at 20yo

Please don't embarrass yourself by trying to mount an argument that JB is anywhere near him

Only Pat Cripps from 2013 is in his ball park

JB is at the moment just above a fringe AFL footballer

You honestly have no idea.

[BigMart]

Well one was an AA this year, was BOG in a semi final in front of 89K and has been stand in skipper

The other was dropped to the VFL and struggled to impact games of footy.

Let's look at their respective b&f finishes in 2014/15/16 to see who's had the biggest impact

So, I suggest you have to get some idea

[CURLY]

Well one was an AA this year, was BOG in a semi final in front of 89K and has been stand in skipper

The other was dropped to the VFL and struggled to impact games of footy.

Let's look at their respective b&f finishes in 2014/15/16 to see who's had the biggest impact

So, I suggest you have to get some idea

Not arguing the Bont stuff. But to suggest Billings is only a AFL fringe player is farcical. Billings was the first of the two to a 30 possession game just for the record. Billings games v Ciollingwood and Hawthorn were A Grade.

[BigMart]

Billings was absolutely disappointing this season. He accumulated some footy, but was very disappointing with the ball and would be lucky to finish top 15 in our b&f (not sure where he finished)
He was laconic, defensively poor and often went missing.

The boy can play, and occasionally did/has

But he has been nothing special imo

[CURLY]

Footskills are the best we've had at the club for as long as I can remember. Billings was playing better footy than the Bont at the start of the year.

[Bluthy]

What's really interesting with this new paradigm of crazy tall midfielders - Fyfe, Bont, Cripps, Acres - is how they will go long term. The best mids have traditionally had a pretty low centre of gravity to let them have a good comb of maneuverability and strength.

These young tall freak mids will naturally start to stack on weight as they get older. How will they go carrying that, needing to do a lot of running, having to spend their career getting down low. If they start having to carry niggles that could slow them down considerably. Fyfe is having some consistent leg problems.

One of their big advantages is being able to push forward and be both an aerial threat and also great off the deck - Bont it doing that so well - he doesn't need to get big numbers to impact games. But can they maintain their effectiveness in the middle that is a key to an onballer?

[BigMart]

What was so good about his foot skills?

He's supposed to be an elite kick... He turns it over regularly and has no real depth.

Sinclair is an elite short kick, Armitage a reasonable medium kick, Newnes and Savage kick it long .. Not always accurate.

JB draft bio of being a surgeon kick... May be true at underage level... But his laconic intensity means he is under pressure and slow to decide on an option too often.
An average kick at best at the moment. Better running power might help his ability to dispose of the ball cleanly

[CURLY]

Please, Billings kicking before injury this year were elite.

[citywest]

You just need luck !

9 out of 10 top 10 draft picks are good players , you just need a touch of luck for your selection to become a superstar .
We had it with Roo
The dogs look like they've got it with the bont .

Stringer is/will be a superstar as well. What pick was he?

[White Winmar]

What was so good about his foot skills?

He's supposed to be an elite kick... He turns it over regularly and has no real depth.

Sinclair is an elite short kick, Armitage a reasonable medium kick, Newnes and Savage kick it long .. Not always accurate.

JB draft bio of being a surgeon kick... May be true at underage level... But his laconic intensity means he is under pressure and slow to decide on an option too often.
An average kick at best at the moment. Better running power might help his ability to dispose of the ball cleanly

Billings is an elite kick. It was one of the reasons he was selected. Go back beyond this year to his highlights and you'll see why the trout rated his kicking so highly. He had an indifferent year in 2016, but I think he was down in confidence through injury and coming to terms with greater scrutiny from the opposition. It was a valuable, painful and necessary lesson he had to learn if he is to fulfill his potential. He'll be elite alright. Very few are like the Bont.

[Griggsy]

I was pretty happy with billings pre Adelaide, he seemed stripped of all confidence after that.

[BigMart]

He kicks at 70% efficiency, with 10 kicks a game. 2.2 are actually clangers. Not the numbers of an 'elite' kick.

Added to that
He is an outside mid that averages under 6 contested possesions per game at a ratio of 3:7. Compared with say Bont who has the same disposal efficiency percentage but averages more than 10 CPs per game. Bont has less clangers and works in traffic more... And I don't consider him an elite kick.

Set shot goal kicking... Well deserved not even look at, because it's a huge difference.

This notion that Jacks an elite kick, because he was as a kid... In a kids competition is nonsense.

Goddard was an elite kick (depth) Mitchell, Dal Santo are elite kicks (efficiency) Heath Shaw is an elite kick.

[SaintPav]

An uninterrupted pre season might help. Consecutive ones would be even better.

[BigMart]

Not sure you learn to kick in a pre season?

[saint-stu]

He's had stress fractures in his leg. Definitely lost penetration since his first year. Hopefully he gets it back and he will be an elite kick again.

[BigMart]

Yes, I do to...

[Devilhead]

Yes, I do to...

So then he is or was an elite kick?

[desertsaint]

Not sure you learn to kick in a pre season?

he knows how to kick. a beautiful kick. it's mental. needs confidence, which hopefully he will get over the preseason and a few good games to start the season.
had a poor year, and is not comparable to Bont, but will be a Montagna level player if his career pans out as it should - capable of AA, but not quite elite over the stretch.

[sunsaint]

Please, Billings kicking before injury this year were elite.

cmon curly stop stirring the pot
in black and white
who would you prefer at the saints?

[Devilhead]

The next 'Bont' ran around in the TAC Cup this year, unfortunately his coach played him as a key back all year to teach him to defend, which not a bad thing, he went back to his local club and tore it to shreds as a mid fielder in a couple of finals. Hawks are all over him and keeping it quite, if they don't pick him up, he'll come back next year and every club will take notice!!!!!

Got a name?

Yes, but I'm not prepared to give it out yet!!!!!

Whats the issue?

You will only be telling us who the Hawks are interested in

Get a enough Criticism on here when I drop names, so as I said,.no more names for the minute!!!!!

Smart posters will work it out!!!!!

Apologies mate didn't realise that your fragile reputation was stake

[saintsRrising]

not sure if i'll ever get over the fact that we passed on an absolute superstar;

Though I think you have to judge a recruiting team with the knowledge they had at the time, and their overall success. And at they time Billings was a surer bet than the Bont.

Our overall success at draft picks has been good in recent seasons.

Let's hope that the form that Acres showed late in the season blooms next year making the supporters of opposition clubs gnash their teeth at the player that did not pick up when they could have.

[Devilhead]

Please, Billings kicking before injury this year were elite.

cmon curly stop stirring the pot
in black and white
who would you prefer at the saints?

Why are we comparing Bont with Billings - their roles are totally different

Bont with Acres is a better comparison