Traded Billy Longer (2012-2013)

[Tairy Greene]

First bounce up he took off like a rocket into his leap and caught the opposing ruck by surprise, an unbelievable jump on the kid!

 

[BuntonRules]

Seeing him live the last coupla weex, he has that 1 ingredient great rucks need - the appetite for work. He is comfortable, & relishes, having to do it himself. Good stuff Billy.

 

[Happy_Neale]

Looked much more fresh this week. Good to see him get a few possies.

 

[Cousin Jed]

Needs to work on his handballing in tight.

 

[Jorgo]

Needs to work on his handballing in tight.

To be fair to him the entire team does!

 

[Grimreepah]

Brett Burton

The silver lining to Leuenberger’s injury has been the emergence of first-round draft pick Billy Longer, who has shouldered the Lions’ ruck load in tandem with veteran Ben Hudson.

“It’s great to see Billy developing and improving, and to have Huddo’s experience too should mean our ruck department is well taken care of in Leuey’s absence,” Burton said.

 

[Grimreepah]

Video: Michael Voss

Are you happy with how Billy Longer is going?

Well he's progressing. As a ruckman we realise he's got some little edges that he needs to knock off. But he's an 18-19 year old ruckman who's played 3-4 games of AFL football and it's pretty important for our direction that we give some time to those particular players. I think the last couple of weeks he's slowly got himself better and better and this is just another task against a pretty good ruckman, who's been in some good form last year, so we'll get a fairly good indication on his progress this weekend I would have thought.

 

[Grimreepah]

Brisbane Lions coach Michael Voss happy to place lofty expectations on rookie ruckman Billy Longer

• Greg Davis
• From: The Courier-Mail
• May 26, 2012 12:00AM

BRISBANE coach Michael Voss is more than happy to keep placing lofty expectations on rookie ruckman Billy Longer. With first-choice big man Matthew Leuenberger sidelined indefinitely with an achilles injury and veteran Ben Hudson used sparingly, the 201cm-tall Longer has been forced to shoulder a significant load so early in his AFL career. Longer will go toe-to-toe with North Melbourne's 2011 All-Australian squad member Todd Goldstein at Etihad Stadium tomorrow and Voss said it would be a good test for last year's No.8 draft pick.

 

[Grimreepah]

Round 9 vs North Melbourne

Among the Roos' standouts was Todd Goldstein, who dominated the ruck and also amassed a game-high and career-best 28 disposals (his previous best this season was 13)

Longer was comprehensively beaten today.

 

[thoselionslads]

At the risk of sounding cynical, I wasn't overly surprised to see Longer beaten. Goldstein is a quality player. It was always going to be a challenge for such a young fella.

 

[Sanchez365]

Longer needs to be told he's allowed to kick the ball. Too often looked for the quick handpass to a runner after he marked it, without looking to see if he was surrounded by North players. Needs to take some (more) responsibility.

 

[dlanod]

At the risk of sounding cynical, I wasn't overly surprised to see Longer beaten. Goldstein is a quality player. It was always going to be a challenge for such a young fella.

No surprise there (no cynicism either). Goldstein was one of the best rucks last year, if not the best ruck. Longer's a first year draftee in his fifth game, and only his third as main ruck. Longer put up a contest and didn't drop his head, but Goldstein just had too much experience.

 

[Ceebee]

Great learning curve I guess.nothing like getting thrown in the deep end.

He seems to be a very mature young man.

 

[Quigley]

I was watching the stats along with the game and it's worth noting that Longer was within a couple of hit outs of Goldstein for the first three quarters. Not all of them were that clean but even still that was a great effort. Goldstein had a massive last quarter and Longer died but overall his performance in the ruck was very good given his level of experience and his opposition. He ended up with 31 hit outs which a great result and higher than a most mature rucks will average on the season. 5 tackles was also a nice result.

He does need to work on getting into the play more. Up to 3/4 time I think he had 3 possessions which is simply not enough. Last week he managed 15 disposals and was much more involved in the play. The opposition was stronger this week but Billy needs to recognise that he is part of the midfield and he needs to work to space more.

Sanchez I agree that he needs to kick more but I think that is a product of where he has come from. Watching him last year the big question mark over him was his kicking. He had trouble hitting the side of the proverbial barn and had zero confidence in it. I have watched his kicking closely this year and it has improved out of sight. His confidence in it is still lagging perhaps but I am sure it will come.

Overall I have been exceptionally happy with how Longer has gone. As far as ruck contests go he is up there with any first year ruck I can remember. NN played 10 games in his first year and averaged 15 hit outs per game. Billy in his 5 games is averaging 22 and over the last 3 games has averaged 29 hit outs per game. By way of perspective Ben McEvoy rucked on his own last year and this (before injury) and only averaged 22 hit outs per game. Kreuzer has been the number 1 ruck for most of the year at Carlton and is only averaging 19 per game. At 29 hit outs per game he would be behind only 211, Mumford, Jamar, Jacobs and Minson (and equal with Maric). That is a pretty great effort from a first year ruck.

 

[jackess]

If he was playing for a Vic club the media would be pumping him up and he'd probably be favourite for the NAB rising star. In the end the Lions were probably lucky that GWS had most of the picks before them and didn't really need a ruck that much. Let's just hope he can play well forward for when Leuenberger returns.

 

[OldLion]

My concern is that a first year player is shouldering the ruck work and inevitably will get banged up, and any productivity drops off during the game - eg his possession count is very low. And his opponent generally is in the best players. Talk about a baptism of fire. I hope his body can stand up but I fear that we are tempting fate. He needs help.

 

[mish33]

My concern is that a first year player is shouldering the ruck work and inevitably will get banged up, and any productivity drops off during the game - eg his possession count is very low. And his opponent generally is in the best players. Talk about a baptism of fire. I hope his body can stand up but I fear that we are tempting fate. He needs help.

This is the danger. He looked well and truly spent by the end of the game - hands on hips etc while Goldstein kept going like a midfielder. Hopefully, it's only endurance because it would be terrible to let him go the way of so many other young lions big men and spend his first few years perpetually injured. Will be great to see him going on a couple more pre-seasons.

I agree with others that the trait that possibly best helps our midfield is his attitude and leadership - we don't have any big bodied leader in there as yet, could he be one to bring more grit to our stoppages? Would be great if he could develop some of the bulldog inside work like Huddo.

 

[Grimreepah]

Match Review Panel

Billy Longer, Brisbane Lions, has been charged with a first offence for being engaged in a melee during the first quarter of the round nine match between the Brisbane Lions and North Melbourne, played at Etihad Stadium on Sunday May 27, 2012.

In summary, he can accept an $1200 sanction with an early plea.

A first offence for being engaged in a melee is a $1600 sanction. An early plea reduces the penalty by 25 per cent to a $1200 sanction.

 

[Grimreepah]

Video: Brett Burton

Billy's played almost every game, and plays a position that requires a lot of effort in the ruck, so it's certainly about managing his loads, and he'll be looking forward to the weekend off next week.

 

[Grimreepah]

Round 10 Team Selection

Seasoned ruckman Ben Hudson has been recalled to the senior side to replace first round draftee Billy Longer who is set to miss with a minor back complaint.

 

[Grimreepah]

Video: Matt Hass

Whose progress have you been most impressed with so far this year?

A lot of the boys have been impressive but I must say Billy Longer, playing a very demanding position in the ruck, being a young guy and our first pick, he's really stood up and carried the load really well, especially with Leuey out of the picture.

 

[Grimreepah]

Live chat

Rohan: Hi Billy, VERY impressed with what you've shown as a first year player and stoked to have you on board. What are the main things the coaching staff have you working on?

Billy Longer: Cheers Rohan, as of now I've been doing a lot of contested work (marking & ruckwork) with Charmo. Always fun pushing around the old big dog.

Jackie: Hey Billy! Do you do much work up in the forward line or are you a pure ruckman?

Billy Longer: At the moment, I'm spending a lot of time trying to learn the forward craft which has been interesting to say the least.

Matt: Hi Billy, what would your advice be for young ruckman aspiring to make AFL?

Billy Longer: You can never practise your craft enough, body strength and fitness go hand in hand with the position. Oh, and a ruckman has to be aggressive, I wasn't when I was younger but it's something I had to learn.

Luke: So who do you live with now??

Billy Longer: Sam Docherty and his partner Natalie. Safe to say I'm the constant third wheel.

Elouera: Hi Billy, have you suffered from any major injuries?

Billy Longer: None thankfully, touch wood.

 

[Stocka]

Although he might not have the athletic flashiness of the likes of Naitanui, Clark or Leuenberger in their early years, Longer would have to be one of the tougher first-year rucks of recent times from any club. Although he's been beaten by more experienced opponents and outrun as games have worn on, he hasn't looked like a lamb to the slaughter physically or mentally against the bigger bodies.

He reminds me a bit of D.Jolly in his early days.

 

[Haso]

Reserves Tame Tigers
15 Jul, 2012

As the second stanza opened up, so did boom ruckman Billy Longer’s jaw. The Club's first round draft pick was escorted from the ground to have stitches to patch up his split face.

Longer didn’t re-enter the fray, but the injury shouldn’t stop the big man from facing the Suns.

 

[Haso]

NEAFL Round 16 - Reserves vs Labrador
16 July 2012

Sam Michael provided a real contest when forced into the ruck in the second half after Billy Longer went off with a bad head gash. Happily for the Lions, Longer was later cleared of any more substantial damage to his jaw.