St Kilda youngster Jack Billings leads the Saints to a 19-point win against Carlton
OVER the summer, Jack Billings’ teammates turned the heat on him. They told him he wasn’t working hard enough and he wasn’t fit enough. He listened.
AFL News
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
BRENDON Bolton put it on the agenda about St Kilda.
Whether it was mind games or not, the Blues coach mentioned the ‘C’ word.
His theory was the balance of the Saints line-up told him they were contenders for the premiership.
The build has been on for a couple of years and the second half of last season suggested there was a fair bit of quality on Alan Richardson’s list.
But how do you jump from 9th to premiership contender?
Obviously overall improvement of the group is a must (tick) plus a few quality inclusions (tick — Jake Carlisle, Nathan Brown, Jack Steele, Koby Stevens).
SATURDAY FOOTBALL: RECAP ALL THE LIVE ACTION HERE
However, to have the ‘C’ word there needs to be some serious cream at the top.
Cream for a contender means a high density of A and B+ grade players.
Coming into the season Jack Stevens was the standout for the Saints, hovering around the A-grade mark.
Veterans Nick Riewoldt and Leigh Montagna have previously had that status and despite a slight dip because of age they can still be counted as cream.
But for a developing side to spike they need someone from the youth ranks to jump up a couple of levels.
Seb Ross has shown in the first couple of months that his graph is going skyward which improves the midfield significantly.
But there is one player that St Kilda has been waiting for to bring into this conversation.
And on Saturday Jack Billings finally put up his hand.
His status has been the elephant in the room at Seaford since he was drafted at No. 3 in the 2013 national draft.
The problem for Billings was what others from that draft around him have been doing. Tom Boyd went at No. 1 and almost won a Norm Smith Medal last year.
Josh Kelly went at No. 2 and is now being offered $1 million bucks a year to leave GWS while Marcus Bontempelli, who went one place after Billings, is in the top five players in the competition and rapidly closing on No.1.
Over the summer Billings’ teammates turned on him. They told him he wasn’t working hard enough, he wasn’t fit enough and they needed him to become a different player.
Four goals in the first half with his fifth coming 11 minutes into the third quarter sent a message to all Saints fans and the rest of the competition.
Finally, in his 50th game things might be starting to click.
What Billings brings apart from his obvious appetite for goals is class and that’s something the Saints don’t have in bucket loads.
At the moment he is still more half-forward flanker than on-baller but if the engine continues to improve that will be an important step.
Against an inexperienced Carlton outfit, Billings finished with an equal personal best 30 possessions but importantly a ton of belief.
So are St Kilda contenders in 2017?
Not on the evidence provided with a 19-point over Carlton but sometimes it’s a good sign to ground out wins against lesser opposition.
They lifted like a good team when it mattered after the Blues hit the lead through Patrick Cripps early in the final quarter.
St Kilda then kicked the final three goals of the match with Ross showing he enjoys the big moments with a brilliant 50m goal.
The biggest issue facing Richardson is what to do with Riewoldt. He is clearly not operating at full capacity and while he slowly got into the match in the second half, there’s something not right.
We know his doesn’t like missing games but the Saints coach might have to pull rank on the club legend given that’s now two weeks of similar below-par performances.
Riewoldt starred earlier in the season playing more midfield than deep forward but his body has forced him to play key forward in recent weeks.
Given they have No. 1 draft pick Paddy McCartin in the VFL, it would make sense to try and get him settled in the side in the second half of the season.
The kid is a gun, he’s got great hands and if the Saints can get his confidence up then adding a legitimate power forward into the mix might just make them ... a contender.
‘You think it’s the clubs’: The real kingmakers of AFL trade period
With some AFL trades set to come down to the wire, keep an eye on the middle men. Sometimes, premierships can be won and lost on their call. Jay Clark assesses the key players at trade time.
Long-running Dees board dispute escalates to AFL being sued
The long-running dispute between Glen Bartlett and the Demons has taken a new twist, with the AFL now being sued by the former president of the Melbourne Football Club.