VFL: High marks for bustling Footscray Bulldogs midfielder Billy Crofts

It’s been a long road to recognition for Billy Crofts but at the age of 26 the Footscray Bulldogs midfielder is winning applause from his club - and his students - for his 2025 VFL season.

Billy Crofts celebrates a goal during the Round 7 match against Casey Demons at the Whitten Oval in May. Photo: Cameron Grimes/AFL Photos

At Bacchus Marsh College, they mark Footscray Bulldogs player Billy Crofts hard but fair.

Crofts is a part-time teacher at the school and his students are quick to jump on the VFL app, look up his stats and make an assessment of his performance.

They let him know when he’s been quiet and also when he’s done well.

Mostly he’s been getting glowing reports this season.

Crofts can be counted as one of the VFL’s most improved players, going from the fringes of selection to a regular midfielder for a top-two team.

Playing every game, he’s averaged 20 disposals and 4.6 tackles, enough to gain seven mentions in the best.

Five times he has also picked up votes in the Coaches’ MVP award – against Geelong, Coburg, Frankston, Richmond and Sydney.

Billy Crofts has hit his best form for the Bulldogs. Photo: Rob Lawson/AFL Photos

One rival coach said last month that Crofts had become an “engine-room’’ player for the ‘Scray. “Gets them going with his hands,’’ he noted.

Footscray assistant coach Anthony “Bundy’’ Barry says Crofts has indeed improved.

“Early days, being the big bull that he is, at local level he’s more of a crash and bash type of player out of stoppage, so he’s put a lot of work into driving out of stoppage, using his hands and using that explosive speed he has and taking the game on a bit more,’’ Barry says.

“He’s having a great season actually.’’

Crofts started it aiming to play most games. Now he wants to play every game “and play well, and play some finals, which I’ve never done’’.

It’s been a long road to VFL recognition for the 26-year-old.

His association with the competition goes back to 2017, when he had a few matches in the Development League for Werribee after coming out of the Western Jets.

“For a few reasons, injury, other stuff, I never got going there,’’ he says of his stint with the Bees.

Oh yes, Billy Crofts 🫡

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— VFL / VFLW (@VFL) May 17, 2025

He returned to his local club, Melton.

At the end of the half-season of 2021 he decided to have a dash at making Geelong’s VFL list, encouraged by Cats assistant Troy Scoble, who had coached him at the Jets.

“I thought, worst case, if I didn’t get on, I’ll at least benefit from the training,’’ he says.

He got on – and to his surprise he played the first six games, only to suffer an Achilles injury that kept him out for the rest of the season.

Crofts spent most of 2023 playing locally, starring but struggling to break back into the Geelong team.

Last year he made the move to the Bulldogs, playing seven matches for a side heavy with AFL-listed players.

“I felt like I should have been in more, but that’s just how it goes with the AFL teams,’’ he says.

This year was different: “There was an opportunity at the start. It was just about taking it.’’ He has, emphatically.

Bill Crofts as a VFL Cat.

Crofts always thought he could be a good VFL player.

“It just hadn’t unfolded that way,’’ he says, “It’s starting to come to fruition a bit now.’’

He knows his VFL journey is different from a lot of players.

“Plenty of guys pull the pin and go back to local when they’re 22, 23, 24, whereas I had those few years at local and came back,’’ he says.

Of course, it would be easy for him to train less and earn a decent dollar in suburban football.

He’s had that conversation with Footscray coach Stewart Edge, who reminded him he would still command good money when he was in his thirties.

Edge told him he liked the fact that Crofts was still trying to better himself well into his career.

The words of Shaun Mannagh a couple of years ago resonated with him: he said he had wanted to play at “the highest standard for as long as I can’’. Geelong drafted Mannagh at the age of 26.

“I’m glad I stuck with it,’’ Croft says. “Even though I’m a bit older, I think I can still grow my game in the environment I’m in.’’

Billy Crofts comes over the top for the Western Jets. Picture: Josie Hayden

He regards himself as a “late bloomer’’, remembering he was “pretty skinny’’ as a teenager.

Back then, he was mostly a running half-back. With size and confidence, he now finds the ball at the coalface rather than in space.

“‘Edgey’ is trying to coach me to get some more uncontested footy, because I went too far contested.

“The coaches are always giving me things to work on. At the start of the year I had something to focus on and we fixed that. Then there was something else and we fixed that. Every few weeks my game’s been growing.’’

In a team studded with young AFL-listed players, his maturity and strength are valued by the Dogs.

As Barry sees it, Crofts “takes on the grunt’’ – and takes the pressure off the pups.

Scoble, who took Melton to a premiership last year, believes the Geelong experience “transformed’’ Crofts’ football.

“From being more of an elite runner, a really quick half back flanker, he became more of inside, contested midfielder,’’ he notes.

“I always loved him. He’s combative, he’s got speed and he’s a really good user of the ball. I wish he’d kick it more because he’s a terrific kick. His run and carry is a real asset. He hasn’t been able to show it in the past 12 months but it’s there.’’

Billy Crofts playing for Wanderers in the 2024-25 NTFL season. Picture: Celina Whan / AFLNT Media

Crofts enjoyed the Cattery, but he’s found a happy home at the Kennel.

He says the VFL Bulldogs are a close bunch and there’s a strong connection with the AFL players. A lot of clubs talk about taking a one-club approach but in the Dogs’ case it’s perfectly true, Crofts says.

“The connection here is unbelievable,’’ he says. “I don’t know if it’s because where the Bulldogs came from or their status but it’s definitely like a family club … VFLW, AFLW, AFL, VFL.’’

Ahead of the VFL season, Crofts played nine games for Wanderers in the Northern Territory league, quickly gaining the respect of the locals.

Respected NT scribe Jackson Clarke called him a “contested ball-winning beast’’.

Thankfully, with his students scanning the stats, his form for the Dogs warrants a similar description.

“Yeah, the kids at school are always checking up and they give me stick if I have a poor one,’’ he says.

“But they get around me if I have a good one too.’’

Originally published as VFL: High marks for bustling Footscray Bulldogs midfielder Billy Crofts