Essendon wanted Billings for Jake Carlisle...

[Joffa Burns]

At the time Saintsational screamed......Noooo!
Would you take it retrospectively?
Carlisle and Parish, with exchange in picks probably still would have got Gresham in early round two as well as Parish whilst losing whipping boy Billings.

[St Loxton]

No, I still have faith that Billings will become the footballer we hope him to.
Finding his feet across half back atm, personally I feel he should be a mid/fwd.

[saynta]

Stuff essendon. Give them nothing.

[dragit]

Why do people bring up parish? He was already gone before the pick we gave to Essendon.

[Con Gorozidis]

Stuff essendon. Give them nothing.

?

Under the OP scenario we would have robbed them of Parish.

[WellardSaint]

They needed an injection of class

[dragit]

Stuff essendon. Give them nothing.

?

Under the OP scenario we would have robbed them of Parish.

The OP scenario is complete fantasy anyway. Essendon always had that pick.

[White Winmar]

JB will be ok. Remember Mike Sheahan's "Lost in Space" article about BJ? The concern at the time was that he couldn't find a position that suited his playing style or size. That was in his fourth year, IIRC. There were plenty of people questioning whether he'd ever fulfill his promise, with many saying we got it wrong and should've picked Wells instead. Fast forward to the present and BJ can look back on his career with pride, both with the saints and dopers. It would be fair to say he's had a better career than Wells. Who would you pick if you had the time over? I think most would stick with BJ.

Like BJ, the expectations of Jack are very high, as they should be for a pick 3. He showed tremendous promise early, but a combination of injury and greater attention from the opposition has curbed him. From all reports he was terrific in the preseason, drawing praise from coaches and team mates. Any knocks on him not working hard enough were seemingly dispelled. His form in the JLT games was also good, raising expectations that he would take the next step. I admit he has been a bit disappointing, although his first half against Melbourne was good. He had 15 possessions to that point before being shifted forward. He drifted out of the game and has struggled since. In the end, if he works hard enough, and the indications are he will, the combination of effort and talent should see him become a very good player. He may not be the Bont and may never be, but I reckon he'll be an important part of the team going forward.

[devil saint]

Very confident JB will be awesome. 2019 Brownlow medalist!

[ausfatcat]

Didn't Essendon want pick 6 and Billings?

[Spinner]

At the time Saintsational screamed......Noooo!
Would you take it retrospectively?
Carlisle and Parish, with exchange in picks probably still would have got Gresham in early round two as well as Parish whilst losing whipping boy Billings.

As dragit said - Parish was unavailable as our pick was after Essendons. 5 moved to 6 due to hopper bid so never would have got Parish....

[BigMart]

Under Sainsational Rules

Parish can't be any good, he needs time

[St Chris]

We would have gotten Aaron Francis.....

And our Pick 24 ended up being the 29th pick, and Gresham doesn't make it that far IMO

There is no way I take Carlisle and Francis, and give up Billings and Gresham. No way.

[Myron Gaines]

First of all, Parish wasn't available to us. Francis went at the pick we gave up for Carlisle. Second of all, If we kept pick 5 (which turned into 6 after academy bidding) we wouldn't have got Gresham - who will be better than Parish imo. Happy with the deal in the end which was Carlisle & Gresh for Francis & Morgan (who the f is he?!).

[magnifisaint]

Rear view mirror post.

Are we really driving backwards?

[#gosaintas]

What a stupid OP

[Joe Bloggs]

Haven't seen the last game in full yet but are we blaming Billings for the lions comeback. 1st and 2 Nd quarter he looks fine.

[dragit]

We should have just taken Weitering and Oliver instead of Carlisle and Gresham.

[IluvHarvey]

Vomit

[Darth Vader]

We should have just taken Weitering and Oliver instead of Carlisle and Gresham.

Should've taken Bont ahead of Paddy.

[sunsaint]

As dragit said - Parish was unavailable as our pick was after Essendons. 5 moved to 6 due to hopper bid so never would have got Parish....

we will never really know what EFC woudl have done if they only had one top ten pick instead of two

[longtimesaint]

We should have just taken Weitering and Oliver instead of Carlisle and Gresham.

Should've taken Bont ahead of Paddy.

They weren't in the same draft!
Perhaps we should have taken Judd instead of Ball,
or argued with VFL about thew re-drawn zones and got Brereton, Mathews etc.
With hindsight and a crystal ball we would have several flags by now!

[Linton Lodger]

We should have just taken Weitering and Oliver instead of Carlisle and Gresham.

You're joking?

Weitering is potentially (probably will be in 2 or 3 years) a gun CHB, Carlisle already is a gun CHB. Oliver is good, but Gresham could be anything, there is indeed something special about him.

[Darth Vader]

We should have just taken Weitering and Oliver instead of Carlisle and Gresham.

Should've taken Bont ahead of Paddy.

They weren't in the same draft!
Perhaps we should have taken Judd instead of Ball,
or argued with VFL about thew re-drawn zones and got Brereton, Mathews etc.
With hindsight and a crystal ball we would have several flags by now!

Was getting in the spirit of the thread and being stupid. But we definitely should've taken Judd ahead of Raph Clarke.

[the dome]

Not surprised at all.
Happy with Jake so far- hoping he plays 20+ in 2017.
This alone would have a Great stabilising influence on St.Kilda 2017.