Billy Stretch

Billy Stretch (born 8 September 1996) is a former professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A midfielder, Stretch plays predominantly on the wing. Stretch was recognised as a talented footballer from a young age when he represented and captained South Australia at under 14 level, and continued to represent the state until under 18 level. His accolades as a junior include six best and fairest awards, a league best player award, national representation and All-Australian selection. His father, Steven Stretch, is a former player for the Melbourne Football Club and Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medallist, which saw Billy recruited by the Melbourne Football Club under the father–son rule in the 2014 AFL draft and he made his AFL debut during the 2015 season.

Billy Stretch
Stretch with Melbourne in June 2019
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
vs. Sydney, at MCG
Height 180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight 77 kg (170 lb)
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current club Melbourne
Number 15
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2015-2019 Melbourne 47 (10)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2019.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Early life

Stretch was born to Steven and Leona Stretch in Melbourne, Victoria[1] before moving to Adelaide, South Australia at five years of age.[2] His father played 164 games with the Melbourne Football Club and is a Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medallist as the club's best and fairest player.[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 fairest awards 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 was named in the squad as a bottom-aged player in the 2013 AFL 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 Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) as part of the AIS-AFL Academy in the 2013 level two intake and he travelled to Europe for two weeks in April 2014 with a thirty-one 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 at training in July 2015

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 forty-second 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 AFL debut against the Sydney Swans in round six 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]

After playing the first two matches in the 2016 NAB Challenge,[22][23] Stretch missed selection for the opening round match against Greater Western Sydney and played his first AFL match of the year against North Melbourne at Blundstone Arena in round three.[24] With seconds left in the match, he had a chance to kick the winning goal, however his snap for goal missed and registered as a behind.[25] He was omitted the next week for the match against Richmond at the Melbourne Cricket Ground,[26] and returned for the seventy-three point win against Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium in round seven.[27] His next two weeks saw him break his career-high disposal counts with twenty-five and thirty-one disposals against the Western Bulldogs and Gold Coast respectively.[28][29] The match against Gold Coast saw him earn praise from then-Melbourne coach, Paul Roos, who said his game was "fantastic",[30] and Herald Sun chief of football writer, Mark Robinson, who commended his ball use and decision making.[31] He missed one match for the remainder of the season, the thirty-six point loss against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium in round seventeen[32] to finish with sixteen matches for the season and a sixteenth place finish in the best and fairest count.[33]

Coming off the 2017 pre-season, in which he had "taken great strides, adding bulk to his frame and improving his ability to win contested footy" according to AFL Media journalist, Ben Guthrie,[34] Stretch played the opening five matches of the AFL season before he was dropped for the round six match against Essendon at Etihad Stadium.[35] He spent nine weeks in the VFL before returning in the three point win against West Coast at Domain Stadium in round fourteen.[36] He played three consecutive matches before being omitted for the round seventeen match against Adelaide at TIO Stadium.[37] Despite having strong form in the VFL, he struggled to play regularly in the senior team, and played only one match for the remainder of the season,[38] the thirteen point win against Brisbane at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in round twenty-two.[39] He finished the season with nine matches and signed a contract extension, tying him to the club until the end of the 2019 season.[40]

Statistics
Statistics are correct to the end of the 2019 season [41]
Legend
 G  Goals  B  Behinds  K  Kicks  H  Handballs  D  Disposals  M  Marks  T  Tackles
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2015 Melbourne 151122635111426390.20.25.74.710.42.43.6
2016 Melbourne 15163412217029249590.20.37.610.618.23.13.7
2017 Melbourne 159345710716430300.30.46.311.918.23.33.3
2018 Melbourne 15202221840760.01.011.09.020.03.53.0
2019 Melbourne 15921916515636270.20.110.17.217.34.03.0
Career 47 10 13 355 411 766 148 161 0.2 0.3 7.6 8.7 16.3 3.1 3.4
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References
  1. 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. Twomey, Callum (9 April 2014). "AFL career no Stretch for Billy". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  3. 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 Australia. 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. Thring, Harry (27 February 2016). "Second-half blitz helps Demons run over Power". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  23. Ryan, Peter (6 March 2016). "Determined Demons outlast young Bulldogs". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  24. Burgan, Matt (20 May 2016). "Stretch moves on from heartstopper". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  25. Burgan, Matt (11 April 2016). "Analysis: Billy to be a hero tomorrow". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  26. King, Travis (15 April 2016). "TEAMS: Dockers load up on talls, Garlett misses out again". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  27. Bowen, Nick (5 May 2016). "Round seven teams: the ins and outs". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  28. Burgan, Matt (20 May 2016). "Billy's belief grows after big game". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  29. Burgan, Matt (20 May 2016). "Billy bobs up with back-to-back beauties". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  30. McKay, Ben (22 May 2016). "Match report: Demons' high five sees finals in prospect". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  31. Robinson, Mark (22 May 2016). "The Tackle: Heath Shaw, Collingwood and Christian Petracca among the highlights from Round 9". Herald Sun. News Corp Australia]. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  32. Gutrhie, Ben (15 July 2016). "TEAMS: Eagles recruit axed again, gun Demon mid back". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  33. Burgan, Matt (6 September 2016). "Viney edges Jones to win first 'Bluey'". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  34. Guthrie, Ben (4 February 2017). "Who's starring on the track?". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  35. "AFL Teams Round 6: Full squads for every game, ins and outs, injuries, suspensions and team news". Fox Sports (Australia). News Corp Australia. 28 April 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  36. "AFL Teams Round 14: Full squads for every game, ins and outs, suspensions and team news". Fox Sports (Australia). News Corp Australia. 23 June 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  37. "Round 17 AFL teams: see the teams as they drop and get expert SuperCoach advice". Herald Sun. News Corp Australia. 13 July 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  38. Guthrie, Ben (21 July 2017). "Talented Demon pair locked in with new deals". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  39. "AFL Teams Round 22: Full squads for every game, ins and outs, injuries, SuperCoach advice". Fox Sports (Australia). News Corp Australia. 18 August 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  40. Burgan, Matt (21 July 2017). "Billy stretches contract until 2019". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  41. "Billy Stretch". AFL Tables. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
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