I was going to stay away, having just got home, but to suggest Billy's been crap most of the year is nonsense, on stilts.Moods wrote:Mate, Billy has been crap most of the year. Back him all you like. Most of us conceded that he was playing because Hickey couldn't get a kick in the magoos, but that doesn't mean you were right about Longer. The last couple of games Longer played great - especially last week. Before that he was putrid.stonecold wrote:Fair enough Fiery, but I've copped a lot of s*** on here for backing Billy!!!!!!!
Billy competes in the middle of the battle, sits top 4 for hit outs and to advantage. The mids trust him to compete, and play accordingly. He's physical, durable, hard and stays involved. Yeah, he mightn't get oodles of possession stats but, by crikey, the blokes around him go better for his presence - and he has presence.
As someone noted earlier, Hick was always going to struggle when the 3rd man up was banned. He was never much chop at centre restarts, but outside those, with help via the 3rd man up, he got off and used his slightly diverse kit bag of tricks.
But, it's a different ball game now, and he has to find another place.
It is very, very hard to argue, after tonight, that Billy is not among a handful of our most important players. Seriously, they all walk a lot taller, and work better together, when Billy leads the way on COMPETING.
