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
v. 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 11 (2)
1 Playing statistics correct to end of 2015 season.

Billy Stretch (born 8 September 1996) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is the son of former Melbourne player and Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medallist, Steven Stretch.

Early life

Stretch was born to Steven and Leona Stretch in Melbourne, Victora[1] before moving to Adelaide, South Australia at the age of five years.[2] His father played 164 games with the Melbourne Football Club and is a former Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medallist as the club's best-and-fairest.[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-fairests 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 named in the squad as a bottom-age player in the 2013 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 31-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 42nd 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 6 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]

Statistics

Statistics are correct to the end of the 2015 season[22]
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
Career 11 2 2 63 51 114 26 39 0.2 0.2 5.7 4.7 10.4 2.4 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. ↑ "Billy Stretch". AFL Tables. Retrieved 9 May 2015.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, January 15, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.