Is Billings gone?

[B.M]

You are right on one count

You’re a clueless supporter

Why was Dougal goalkeeping at a d50 stoppage when the ball was 15m out

Who was responsible for Thilthorpe???

Go on, you tell me genius?!

[Munga]

We should be doing everything we can to keep and hopefully our next coach and his assistants will have the skills to develop talent and systems/structures/ball movement strategies/team rules to enable a game style that win footy matches.

We absolutely can NOT sell the farm to keep Billings. He's not a star of the game, a match winner the number of times I can count on one hand. He's bog standard.

I wish him the best elsewhere, unless he wants to stay here for what he's actually worth.

[B.M]

He’s worth what someone is willing to pay for him

That’s how you determine worth

[SaintDippa]

At this stage in his career probably wondering where it's going and if he'll win a premership.
If I was his manager I'd be asking some serious questions to the club, not necessarily money related, more future direction and the next coach.
If I were Billings seeing where the Saints are at and how his career has flatlined I'd be looking at options.
Bombers were sniffing before so moving to Tulla is not the worst move even on less or same coin.
Would be tragedy that our #1 and #3 picks would no longer be at the club.

[Teflon]

You are right on one count

You’re a clueless supporter

Why was Dougal goalkeeping at a d50 stoppage when the ball was 15m out

Who was responsible for Thilthorpe???

Go on, you tell me genius?!

Wrong thread god
But continue to bash Howard cause in your mind the loss is all his fault ....and miss the bigger picture
Unusual..for a god...

<1 day ban for baiting and on watch for ongoing dispute>

[Teflon]

To clarify,

In seven full seasons, he has recorded just one top five finish in the club’s best and fairest and none in the top three.

That’s an under achievement surely. A classic example of why we are a poor team. He’s a walk up start in our team but in a really good team, he would be held accountable and eventually forced out because the money on offer would go to the top 10 genuinely influential players.

He’ll make a decent living out of footy, but 5 years after he’s retired few will remember him

Spot on
Look he’s a nice little player
Will be v good in a top side
Won’t make a real impact in mediocre side which we are
The facts are obvious - 7 bloody years not once top 3 B & F??????????
Can be covered
Just pray he gets a super size deal but I actually think it’s looking unlikely....other clubs don’t overrate our players...they know he hasn’t lived up to the hype

[minneapolis]

I said last week he has to be traded out whilst he has currency.
Dal Santo said the same this week.
Match winner- no
Consistent 4 quarter player- no
Influential player in key moments- no
Big Match player- no
Leader- no
Will play 200 games best to go now he isn’t what we need.

Noth would be a good trading partner in this scenario. They would want him and have the money. We get Pick 19?

[1965 Saint]

Aren’t Billing’s and Lonie great mates? Trade them out together.

[Scollop]

I said last week he has to be traded out whilst he has currency.
Dal Santo said the same this week.
Match winner- no
Consistent 4 quarter player- no
Influential player in key moments- no
Big Match player- no
Leader- no
Will play 200 games best to go now he isn’t what we need.

Has he got burst speed - no
Does he stick most of his tackles - no
Is he good in traffic - generally no
Has he shown he can win a loose ground ball and shoot off a lightning handball accurately - very rarely
Can he be relied on to win clearances - no
Is he a starting mid at stoppages or at centre bounces - no
Can he take a contested pack mark - generally no

Is he a relatively good mark overhead - yes, but only if it's opponents his own size
Is he a good field kick - yes, but only when he's clear and he has time and space

Has he improved his set shot accuracy - definitely yes
Is he confident and does he work hard enough to give himself an opportunity to score - definitely yes

[repta]

Personally I hope that he stays.

Looking at the players that will be delisted at the (or cleaned out) at the end of the year we need to keep hold of players that have some potential.

otherwise we will be lost in the wilderness for years

[The_Dud]

What's Hill's wage compared to Billings?

[Ghost Like]

I said last week he has to be traded out whilst he has currency.
Dal Santo said the same this week.
Match winner- no
Consistent 4 quarter player- no
Influential player in key moments- no
Big Match player- no
Leader- no
Will play 200 games best to go now he isn’t what we need.

Noth would be a good trading partner in this scenario. They would want him and have the money. We get Pick 19?

Interesting to hear from vazelos and Teflon whether pick 19 is the threshold to trade? I suspect if all he was worth was pick 19 then what he was offered was around the $700K p.a. for 5 years.

If that's the case, match the offer. No value in pick 19.

[CURLY]

Best kick in the side.

[silverhalo]

I think Billings will move on and it's in the interests of both parties that he does....Looks like he's reached the ceiling in his development at the Saints although I feel he could improve in a different setting. He looks disinterested at times and appears that he's not really enjoying it too much out there.

First round compensation and he walks to North....done

[B.M]

Firstly, we won’t get a first round pick for him, it’ll be beginning of second round pushed back to early twenties.

Last time we did a similar thing

McEvoy to Hawthorn for pick 19 (Dunstan)

Hawthorn club Captain and constantly in the top 5 in their B&F
And Premiership player

Dunstan and Savage fringe players in a poor team.

Billings is likely to play another 100+ at B Grade or better
20ppg and goal per game HF/Wing

What’s the likelihood of a pick 20 doing that??

I reckon pretty slim.

Long was the last pick 20 odd we took and he’s bog average!

[Ghost Like]

Yes B.M., Jon Ralph's research appears to be taken from this site. Who is it that is saying the stuff he's just written? Us. The AFL would have to be incredibly generous to offer the pick after our first round pick for Billings if the offer we didn't match was $750K for 4 years.

It's the replacement factor that gets me, why is he so easy to replace? Who on our list steps up and takes his place? Who has good foot skills on both sides of his body? Who hits targets with their kicking and can play between deep forward and wing to the extent that an opposition side will put time into tagging?

Pick 19 (20+) won't cut it. The salary spoken of won't give it. If a team offers more then they see value our club and our supporters do not see. Are we that poor of a club we cannot see the value in good ball users and smart footballers? Or do with think this somehow makes up for our (hindsight) mistake in not drafting the Bont?

[B.M]

If we were getting an UPGRADE in as replacement

Josh Kelly, Zac Merrett etc

Don’t see the point at all

Rather keep good players and get rid of donkeys

[bangaulegend]

If we were getting an UPGRADE in as replacement

Josh Kelly, Zac Merrett etc

Don’t see the point at all

Rather keep good players and get rid of donkeys

Hee Haw to that

[1966]

If we get a first round pick I’d personally pick him up and drop at the club of his choice.
Very definition of a “good ordinary player”

[Teflon]

If we get a first round pick I’d personally pick him up and drop at the club of his choice.
Very definition of a “good ordinary player”

Yep
Latest Bigfooty whisper (good site - if you ever get banned for no reason on here worth a look) is he has 3 very big offers on the table 1 from a club contending finals 2 not (my bet is North who need to spend cap are one of those).

Let’s pray he gets a ripping offer
Tony74 has indicated club wants 3 picks inside 20....I can’t see where a third comes from tbh (unless we start offering package deals ...)
Who else is worth anything ??? Battle ? Long? gets thin quick...

[Waltzing St Kilda]

Billings is not going to want to go to Norf. It will be Essendon all the way.

We desperately need high draft picks so looks likely to me.

A tip of the hat to those who sold the farm to bring in Hill, Hannebury, etc.

[Teflon]

Billings is not going to want to go to Norf. It will be Essendon all the way.

We desperately need high draft picks so looks likely to me.

A tip of the hat to those who sold the farm to bring in Hill, Hannebury, etc.

Billings is also 26 at his peak
This IS his footy payday and best bet to make hay ...
I would not rule it out if they offer enough..

[supersaints2]

I see Billings as an icing on the Cake type player At Geelong or Richmond he would be great.
Both those clubs have a decent cake. Sadly at the Saints we are more like a Muffin ... not much room for icing..,,
I’d like him to stay but he must get tempted to leave...before we turn into a pancake

[Scollop]

I see Billings as an icing on the Cake type player At Geelong or Richmond he would be great.
Both those clubs have a decent cake. Sadly at the Saints we are more like a Muffin ... not much room for icing..,,
I’d like him to stay but he must get tempted to leave...before we turn into a pancake

Marshmallows go well on cake

[B.M]

So we are rebuilding again??

Back to the draft to f*** that up again… and spend another 10 years I. The bottom 6

Look forward to that