Toast Billings promoted to Leadership Group

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#4
The most positive spin I can put on this is that it provides an excuse Internally to pay him more and hopefully get his signature.

I can’t help feeling it reeks of desperation though. I think I tend to read too much into things when it comes to contracts - I have gresh’s poor jlt down to his head being turned...
 

CALL ME SNAKE

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#6
Im not surprised.
People bang on about him being quiet or timid and lacking confidence.
Only people at the club would have any idea what he is really like.
Most of us here are just guessing .
The campaigner just has to kick straight and he will be an absolute gun.
 
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DarkSaint

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#7
Im not surprised.
People bang on about him being quiet or timid and lacking confidence.
Only people at the club would have any idea what he is really like.
Most of us here are just guessing .
The campaigner just has to kick straight and he will be an absolute gun.
He is not the most confident kid going around, and there is nothing wrong with that at all.

He however does sometimes drop the head lacks the inner belief as other players do to take the next step.
 

Indie Rock

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#8
Leadership groups take all types and not everyone needs to be outspoken or strong vocally.

Maybe he sets high standards at training and other players look up to him for the clear elite elements of his game.

Maybe also the club feel that giving him this extra responsibility will get the best out of him.

Well done JB, hope you go from strength to strength from here.
 

Diehard Saint

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#9
Leadership groups take all types and not everyone needs to be outspoken or strong vocally.

Maybe he sets high standards at training and other players look up to him for the clear elite elements of his game.

Maybe also the club feel that giving him this extra responsibility will get the best out of him.

Well done JB, hope you go from strength to strength from here.
+1
You can see when he is interviewed in the media now that he has come a long way since he was first drafted. I have heard that he has become a lot more vocal and outspoken at training.

I think it’s a great move.

(And for all you sceptics out there, I doubt it has anything to do with his contract extension....which will happen.)
 

Saint Watto

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#11
Great news IMO...…..it just may spur Jack to a higher level......never under estimate confidence and self belief when both of those things kick in.

I was just saying last night to a few Saints I caught up with that JB had 60....yes....60 shots on goal in 2017...….that's mind boggling.

Of course if he kicked straighter that season...….most of the conversations on here about him may not happened.
 

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CALL ME SNAKE

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#12
Leadership groups take all types and not everyone needs to be outspoken or strong vocally.

Maybe he sets high standards at training and other players look up to him for the clear elite elements of his game.

Maybe also the club feel that giving him this extra responsibility will get the best out of him.

Well done JB, hope you go from strength to strength from here.
True.
Robert Harvey hardly said a word or looked anyone in the eye for yrs . Even when Captain Harves still looked a bit awkward and quiet in interviews .
Dont get me wrong peeps im not comparing Jack to Harvey but I think sometimes maybe being a bit shy makes people think you havnt got any confidence.
You dont have to be an arrogant flog like Wayne Carey to be a great player.
 

CALL ME SNAKE

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#14
Great news IMO...…..it just may spur Jack to a higher level......never under estimate confidence and self belief when both of those things kick in.

I was just saying last night to a few Saints I caught up with that JB had 60....yes....60 shots on goal in 2017...….that's mind boggling.

Of course if he kicked straighter that season...….most of the conversations on here about him may not happened.
Yeah he gets himself and puts other players in a hell of a lot of scoring situations. Gonna be really exciting ( or frustrating :p) watching him this yr.
Straighten up a little and he's got A.A form .
 
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#15
I'm stoked with this.

I've long thought of him as a perfect contender for the leadership group, not because of what he brings but what it perhaps can bring out of him.

I think this will force him out of his shell somewhat. It'll make him more accountable to his teammates, who will look to him for guidance.

It'll be the making of him IMO.
 

Masquerade

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#20

The game that proved what Billings is capable of
Makes me a little sad watching that video too though. I forgot Armo had that purple patch for about half a season, Sinclair looked so good in his first season and has tapered off since, Lonie was also fantastic and he might only just be rediscovering some of that form, Bruce has plateaued a lot and Billings hasn't fully blown the comp away like we thought after that game.

What do you guys reckon? Development gone awry? Clearly the talent is there somewhere. We've also added Steele, Clark, Membrey, Coffield, Gresh and Carlisle since then yet - ladder position-wise - we're in the same place. I think if we can get them all confident again, we've got the backbones of a solid list.
 

triggering bro

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#21
Makes me a little sad watching that video too though. I forgot Armo had that purple patch for about half a season, Sinclair looked so good in his first season and has tapered off since, Lonie was also fantastic and he might only just be rediscovering some of that form, Bruce has plateaued a lot and Billings hasn't fully blown the comp away like we thought after that game.

What do you guys reckon? Development gone awry? Clearly the talent is there somewhere. We've also added Steele, Clark, Membrey, Coffield, Gresh and Carlisle since then yet - ladder position-wise - we're in the same place. I think if we can get them all confident again, we've got the backbones of a solid list.
I’m going to quote Nick Riewoldt once again because just about everything he says is so logical:

"You can still see it, it's the eye test, it's the effort that the players are giving, it's the adherence to a good game style.”

Between the Essendon game in 2017 & the final game in 2018 the players lacked effort & adherence to a good game style. Essentially, the game style was shite & the players didn’t buy into it IMO.
 

gringo2011

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#24
I’m going to quote Nick Riewoldt once again because just about everything he says is so logical:

"You can still see it, it's the eye test, it's the effort that the players are giving, it's the adherence to a good game style.”

Between the Essendon game in 2017 & the final game in 2018 the players lacked effort & adherence to a good game style. Essentially, the game style was shite & the players didn’t buy into it IMO.

I might just get my negativity out of the way early during the toey pre-game one period.

I still think Richo came in with the direction of making us as competitive as he could. Rather than where Carlton is now, which is starting to look like some linear progress, we have been in this constant "almost" challenging phase that never has a destination. I think North are on that now, possibly in a more opportune time though. But anyway, Richo gets every bit of competitiveness out of the side he has with his all out desperation game style. It's pretty limited but anyone who doesn't show up with their game face on will lose to it. The downside is that it's not great for longer term development. Last year the contract extension was probably a decision to let him develop beyond the now, but the backlash from fans made the board nervous and they made him go back to being competitive. Teams like Collingwood spent their time down drafting well and working towards developing a specific game plan. That's now bearing fruit for them.

We seem more like Richmond were under Wallace, always trying to play beyond our list and desperate for a player to come in and make up the difference. I'm worried we don't actually have any plan for where we are going under Richo. Ratten has helped but will it be any more than being more competitive while the list looks like even if it made finals it wouldn't trouble anyone.

We have to start looking at getting quality mids in and having something beyond frenetic running and hard work. I thought Carlton looked like they played Richo footy last night, not really good enough to trouble the serious players but good enough to give the fans a bit of hope. Gubby Allen is probably the most important person at the club now, he needs to quickly design a plan rather than saying stuff like we want a premiership by 2020 with nothing but hope to suggest we might get there.
 

gringo2011

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#25
With Billings’ family ties to Essendon, one can’t help but to look back to the last time the club dangled a leadership position in front of an out of contract player...

It's kind of like when a relationship starts to go sour, you bring home a puppy hoping that the extra commitment will make them stay. 6 months later your lonely bedsit smells like dog piss and you are eating baked beans out of a can.
 
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