Jack Billings is a signature example of a player whose fantasy stocks rise and fall depending on where he is played. As a wingman, he can rack up uncontested stats and deliver scores every week when the Saints are up and going. As a medium forward, as he has been used in recent months, he can get lost and go missing, especially when St Kilda's on-ball division is not going well. A plantar fascia tear after an extended fasciitis, plus a knee knock at training may explain his poor form across the year, but he's still capable of posting good scores as he did last week. A daily special.
Jack Billings is a signature example of a player whose fantasy stocks rise and fall depending on where he is played. As a wingman, he can rack up uncontested stats and deliver scores every week when the Saints are up and going. As a medium forward, as he has been used in recent months, he can get lost and go missing, especially when St Kilda's on-ball division is not going well. A plantar fascia tear after an extended fasciitis, plus a knee knock at training may explain his poor form across the year, but he's still capable of posting good scores as he did last week. A daily special.
Jack Billings is one of the league's best players when he is on and the team around him are firing, as they were in the latter parts of 2020. This year, not so much. The St Kilda midfield has been missing some key personnel but they are now coming under fire for not working hard enough without the ball, something which cream players like Billings love to feed off. They need a good defensive mid to work hard to make the other parts of the engine room click, and until they do then players like Billings are going to suffer. His fantasy owners hope that things turn around soon.
Top marks for Billings
Finishing fourth in the Trevor Barker Medal, midfield-forward Jack Billings produced a career high disposal and mark output, adding over five score involvements per outing. The transformation came with a move up the ground to a wing after mouldering on the flanks and pockets in previous years, a move long mooted by fantasy coaches that finally came to fruition. He was outside the top 50 for most key stats in that forward-running role, nonetheless. Billings is integral to the side's improvements and will be tasked with linking the midfield and forward units for the upcoming campaign, hoping to increase his score involvements in a team which has had big trouble scoring in recent years. A dominant ball winner throughout his six seasons on the list, Billings is a prized fantasy asset in his current role. Available as a midfield only option, his scoring is high enough to take him in middle rounds.
Jack Billings has dropped his ratings this year, breaking a run across his first five listed seasons where his fantasy average grew every year to be quite a solid mid-range starter in draft leagues. The advent of Ben Long and Matthew Parker to the half forward line at the start of this season theoretically freed him up from playing the oft-unused third tall forward role and allowed him to start more on a wing, but a combination of poor personal form and lack of drive from the undermanned Saints engine room has led to a double-digit drop off. Can he recover anything from a lost year?
Jack Billings has been installed on a half forward flank for St Kilda this evening and, as is normal for the position, shows flashes of quality without accumulating enough possession to really get fantasy coaches interested in the short term. He is still only young and learning the craft, so his value is only relevant in keeper draft leagues where he should be stowed on someone's bench lest he turn into the sort of regular scorer who can string numbers together regularly. It's a longshot at this early stage.
Cheque clears late for Billings
Everything seemed to be coming together for Jack Billings towards the end of 2017 but last season must be viewed as a step backwards for the supremely talented forward. It must be said, Billings’ season picked up significantly from round 13 onwards, as thereafter he never dipped below 20 disposals in a game. Given Billings’ proven ability to score, his age and his promising second half to 2018, coaches should be looking to snap him up early in drafts, despite a lot of scorches on their skin from picking him up last preseason. Fantasy forwards who can reach 85 or 90 with a bit of ceiling left are thin on the ground, so don't go past him if he's available at the right time.
Now he's top Billings
After a slow start, Jack Billings ramped up his production around the byes last season with a run of six out of seven fantasy tons, then a lull and finishing with four tons out of five. At times it seemed like he was the only elite player on the Saints team, running up from a HFF to midfield with two-thirds of his ball uncontested. In fact, the shape of his stat lines is very similar to teammate Sebastian Ross, just less volume. Ross has two years of development on Billings, and benefits from a role putting him closer to the action for longer. Can the younger Saint jump an extra ten points in fantasy average to match him? The return of David Armitage from the LTI list to midfield should mean that the club keeps Billings in his current role, at which he is becoming increasingly effective. This tends to limit his draft value, which is still good enough to see him taken in early rounds.
