Billy Stretch

Billy Stretch

Stretch at training in July 2015
Personal information
Full name Billy Stretch
Date of birth (1996-09-08) 8 September 1996
Place of birth Melbourne, Victoria[1]
Original team(s) Glenelg (SANFL)
Draft No. 42 (F/S), 2014 national draft
Debut Round 6, 2015, Melbourne
vs. Sydney, at MCG
Height / weight 180 cm / 71 kg
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current club Melbourne
Number 15
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2015– Melbourne 27 (5)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2016.

Billy Stretch (born 8 September 1996) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A midfielder, 1.80 metres (5.9 ft) tall and weighing 71 kilograms (157 lb), Stretch plays predominantly on the wing. Stretch was recognised as a talented footballer from a young age when he represented and captained South Australia at under 14 level, and continued to represent the state until under 18 level. His accolades as a junior include six best and fairest awards, a league best player award, national representation and All-Australian selection. His father, Steven Stretch is a former player for the Melbourne Football Club and Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medallist, which saw Billy recruited by the Melbourne Football Club under the father–son rule in the 2014 AFL draft and he made his AFL debut during the 2015 season.

Early life

Stretch was born to Steven and Leona Stretch in Melbourne, Victoria[1] before moving to Adelaide, South Australia at five years of age.[2] His father played 164 games with the Melbourne Football Club and is a Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medallist as the club's best and fairest player.[3] He attended Immanuel College and was recognised as a potential AFL player by Melbourne at fourteen years of age after playing his junior football with the Woodville-West Torrens Football Club and Henley Football Club, where he won six best and fairest awards by the age of fourteen; in addition he was named the best under 14 player in the Metro West Football Association and captained South Australia in the South Australian Primary Schools Amateur Sports Association (SAPSASA).[4]

He’s an AFL player with a big future and is a fantastic athlete like his father.

Kevin Sheehan, AFL talent manager.[5]

Stretch changed junior clubs to the Glenelg Football Club in 2009, and debuted for their South Australian National Football League (SANFL) reserves side in 2013.[1] He was awarded state selection for South Australia at the 2012 under 16 championships[1] and was named in the squad as a bottom-aged player in the 2013 AFL Under 18 Championships.[3]

Stretch entered his final junior year with the prediction he would be recruited by Melbourne through the father–son rule in the 2014 AFL draft.[2] The beginning of his final junior year saw him awarded a scholarship with the AIS-AFL Academy as part of their 2013 level two intake and he travelled to Europe for two weeks in April 2014 with a thirty-one man squad.[6] He received mid-year state honours and represented South Australia at the 2014 Under 18 Championships; playing mostly on the wing, he was named in the best players in four out of the five round-robin matches against Victoria Metro, Western Australia, and Victoria Country twice,[7][8][9][10] and played in the winning final against Victoria Metro, and was again named in the best players.[11] His efforts in the championships were rewarded with All-Australian selection on the wing.[12] In addition, he became a regular in Glenelg's senior side with strong performances late in the season, including a best on ground performance against Adelaide in round 16, which earned him three votes in the Magarey Medal.[13]

AFL career

Stretch was nominated as a potential draftee by the Melbourne Football Club in September 2014 under the father–son rule,[14] after Adelaide bid their second round pick on Stretch, Melbourne committed their third round pick[15] and recruited him with their fourth selection, and forty-second overall in the 2014 national draft.[16] After spending the start of the 2015 season playing in the Victorian Football League (VFL) for Melbourne's affiliate team, the Casey Scorpions,[17] he made his debut against the Sydney Swans in round six at the Melbourne Cricket Ground,[18] where he kicked his first goal with his first kick.[19] He played eleven matches in his debut season[20] and was praised by Melbourne football operations manager, Josh Mahoney, as someone who "adapted really quickly to the demands of being an AFL player."[21]

After playing the first two matches in the 2016 NAB Challenge,[22][23] Stretch missed selection for the opening round match against Greater Western Sydney and played his first AFL match of the year against North Melbourne at Blundstone Arena in round three.[24] With seconds left in the match, he had a chance to kick the winning goal, however his snap for goal missed and registered as a behind.[25] He was omitted the next week for the match against Richmond at the Melbourne Cricket Ground,[26] and returned for the seventy-three point win against Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium in round seven.[27] His next two weeks saw him break his career-high disposal counts with twenty-five and thirty-one disposals against the Western Bulldogs and Gold Coast respectively.[28][29] The match against Gold Coast saw him earn praise from then-Melbourne coach, Paul Roos who said his game was "fantastic",[30] and Herald Sun chief of football writer, Mark Robinson, who commended his ball use and decision making.[31] He missed one match for the remainder of the season, the thirty-six point loss against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium in round seventeen[32] to finish with sixteen matches for the season and a sixteenth place finish in the best and fairest count.[33]

Statistics

Statistics are correct to the end of the 2016 season[34]
Legend
 G  Goals  B  Behinds  K  Kicks  H  Handballs  D  Disposals  M  Marks  T  Tackles
Season Team # Games G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
Totals Averages (per game)
2015 Melbourne 15 11 2 2 63 51 114 26 39 0.2 0.2 5.7 4.7 10.4 2.4 3.6
2016 Melbourne 15 16 3 4 122 170 292 49 59 0.2 0.3 7.6 10.6 18.2 3.1 3.7
Career 27 5 6 185 221 406 75 98 0.2 0.2 6.9 8.2 15.1 2.8 3.6

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Turner, Matt (1 May 2013). "Melbourne Football Club in talks with the son of Steven Stretch". The Advertiser. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  2. 1 2 Twomey, Callum (9 April 2014). "AFL career no Stretch for Billy". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  3. 1 2 Clark, Jay (11 June 2013). "Youngster Billy Stretch still dreams of playing for Melbourne". Herald Sun. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  4. ↑ Capell, Andrew (30 November 2010). "Son of Melbourne Demons legend Steven Stretch on club's radar at just fourteen years old". The Advertiser. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  5. ↑ Burgan, Matt (30 September 2014). "Stretch a genuine AFL talent: Sheehan". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  6. ↑ Okley, Sam (4 April 2014). "Glenelg youngster Billy Stretch reaches for the stars as AFL ambition gathers steam". The Advertiser. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  7. ↑ Collins, Ben (1 June 2014). "SA wins at a Stretch over Vic Country". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  8. ↑ King, Travis (7 June 2014). "Dees' father-son prospect shines for SA". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  9. ↑ Twomey, Callum (14 June 2014). "Plenty of the Wright stuff in Vic Metro win". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  10. ↑ Di Giorgio, Giulio (27 June 2014). "Daniel's stocks on the rise after dominant performance for SA". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  11. ↑ Di Giorgio, Giulio (3 July 2014). "South Australia wins back-to-back U18 championships". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  12. ↑ Twomey, Callum (4 July 2014). "Metro dominates 2014 Under-18 All Australian team". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  13. ↑ Capel, Andrew (9 September 2014). "Melbourne zeroes in on Glenelg son of a gun Billy Stretch as a father-son pick". The Advertiser. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  14. ↑ Quayle, Emma (8 September 2014). "Melbourne to nominate Billy Stretch as father-son draftee". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  15. ↑ Rucci, Michelangelo (6 October 2014). "Billy Stretch realises dream and joins Melbourne Demons under father-son rule". The Advertiser. News Corp. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  16. ↑ "AFL Draft 2014: Club-by-club selections". The Age. Fairfax Media. 28 November 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  17. ↑ Burgan, Matt (17 March 2015). "Brayshaw, Stretch impress in VFL". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  18. ↑ Burgan, Matt (9 May 2015). "Billy's dream comes true". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  19. ↑ "Stretch celebrates on debut". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. 9 May 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  20. ↑ Lewis, Georgina; Burgan, Matt (6 October 2015). "Stretch exceeds expectations first-up". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  21. ↑ Guthrie, Ben (25 September 2015). "Demons lock in four youngsters to new deals". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  22. ↑ Thring, Harry (27 February 2016). "Second-half blitz helps Demons run over Power". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  23. ↑ Ryan, Peter (6 March 2016). "Determined Demons outlast young Bulldogs". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  24. ↑ Burgan, Matt (20 May 2016). "Stretch moves on from heartstopper". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  25. ↑ Burgan, Matt (11 April 2016). "Analysis: Billy to be a hero tomorrow". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  26. ↑ King, Travis (15 April 2016). "TEAMS: Dockers load up on talls, Garlett misses out again". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  27. ↑ Bowen, Nick (5 May 2016). "Round seven teams: the ins and outs". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  28. ↑ Burgan, Matt (20 May 2016). "Billy's belief grows after big game". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  29. ↑ Burgan, Matt (20 May 2016). "Billy bobs up with back-to-back beauties". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  30. ↑ McKay, Ben (22 May 2016). "Match report: Demons' high five sees finals in prospect". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  31. ↑ Robinson, Mark (22 May 2016). "The Tackle: Heath Shaw, Collingwood and Christian Petracca among the highlights from Round 9". Herald Sun. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  32. ↑ Gutrhie, Ben (15 July 2016). "TEAMS: Eagles recruit axed again, gun Demon mid back". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  33. ↑ Burgan, Matt (6 September 2016). "Viney edges Jones to win first 'Bluey'". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  34. ↑ "Billy Stretch". AFL Tables. Retrieved 9 May 2015.

External links

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