Almost the last of a dying breed of tap ruckmen, Billy Longer is one of the few lone ruckmen in the AFL to have remained completely irrelevant from a fantasy perspective. His average of 78 fantasy points in 2017 was serviceable but still very low for a lead ruck. The 44 points he averaged in 2018 are almost inexplicable. With no Tom Hickey on the Saints’ list and only Lewis Pierce to threaten him, Longer has every opportunity to be successful. However, he’s been in this position multiple times in the past and come up short. Consider him late, only in leagues where ruckmen are in high demand.
Longer comes up short
Almost the last of a dying breed of tap ruckmen, Billy Longer is one of the few lone ruckmen in the AFL to have remained completely irrelevant from a fantasy perspective. His average of 78 fantasy points in 2017 was serviceable but still very low for a lead ruck. The 44 points he averaged in 2018 are almost inexplicable. With no Tom Hickey on the Saints’ list and only Lewis Pierce to threaten him, Longer has every opportunity to be successful. However, he’s been in this position multiple times in the past and come up short. Consider him late, only in leagues where ruckmen are in high demand.
At long last, Billy
After only one VFL game in his sixth listed season, Billy Longer was given back his old job leading the ruck for the Saints which he had lost to Tom Hickey in 2016. He started quietly then wound up late, posting three of his four fantasy tons in the last two months. His better fantasy games come when he pushes his disposal count into double figures, even though his legs are pretty much for balance only with a massive focus on handball. While it was a surprise to some to see Hickey lose his spot without doing a heck of a lot wrong, by the end of the season it was plain to see that Longer had greater upside as a ruck in the new era without third men up. With a much higher baseline for rucks in draft leagues in 2018, expectations are higher and even if you take his averages from those last two months as his benchmark, it's still barely startable. He should not be drafted unless you leave it very late.
