Billy Stretch (born 8 September 1996) is a former professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er playing for the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL). A

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, Stretch plays predominantly on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

. 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 In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

awards, a league best player award, national representation and All-Australian selection. His father,

Steven Stretch Steven Stretch (born 5 January 1964) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Melbourne and Fitzroy in the VFL/AFL and West Torrens in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). A wingman, Stretch won the 1987 Keit ...

, is a former player for the Melbourne Football Club and

Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal The Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player(s) adjudged the best and fairest at the Melbourne Football Club throughout the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League (VFL/A ...

list, which saw Billy recruited by the Melbourne Football Club under the father–son rule in the

2014 AFL draft The 2014 AFL draft consists of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) can trade and recruit players following the completion of the 2014 AFL season. Additions to each club's playing list are not allowed ...

and he made his AFL debut during the 2015 season.

Early life

Stretch was born to

Steven Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

and Leona Stretch in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Victoria before moving to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

at five years of age. His father played 164 games with the

and is a

list as the club's

player. 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 Woodville-West Torrens Football Club is an Australian rules football club playing in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). It was formed in 1990 from an amalgamation of the neighbouring Woodville and West Torrens football clu ...

and

Henley Football Club The Henley Sharks Football Club is an Australian sports club headquartered in Henley Beach, South Australia. Established in 1899, Henley's main sports are Australian rules football and netball.Glenelg Football Club in 2009 and debuted for their

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

(SANFL) reserves side in 2013. He was awarded state selection for South Australia at the 2012 under 16 championships and was named in the squad as a bottom-aged player in the

2013 AFL Under 18 Championships The 2013 NAB AFL Under 18 Championships was the 18th edition of the AFL Under 18 Championships. Eight teams competed in the championships: Vic Metro, Vic Country, South Australia and Western Australia in Division 1, and New South Wales/Australia ...

. Stretch entered his final junior year with the prediction he would be recruited by Melbourne through the father–son rule in the

. The beginning of his final junior year saw him awarded a scholarship with the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

(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. 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, and played in the winning final against Victoria Metro, and was again named in the best players. His efforts in the championships were rewarded with

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

selection on the wing. In addition, he became a regular in Glenelg's senior side with strong performances late in the season, including a

best on ground In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

performance against

in round 16, which earned him three votes in the

Magarey Medal The Magarey Medal is an Australian rules football honour awarded annually since 1898 to the fairest and most brilliant player in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), as judged by field umpires. The award was created by Willia ...

AFL career

Stretch was nominated as a potential draftee by the

in September 2014 under the father–son rule. After bid their second round pick on Stretch, Melbourne committed their third round pick and recruited him with their fourth selection and forty-second overall in the 2014 national draft. After spending the start of the 2015 season playing in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL) for Melbourne's affiliate team, the

Casey Scorpions The Casey Football Club, nicknamed the "Demons" and formerly the "Scorpions", is an Australian rules football club based in Cranbourne East, Victoria. The club, which was known until 2005 as the Springvale Football Club and the Casey Scorpions ( ...

, he made his AFL debut against the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

in round six at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

, where he kicked his first goal with his first kick. He played eleven matches in his debut season and was praised by Melbourne football operations manager, Josh Mahoney, as someone who "adapted really quickly to the demands of being an AFL player." After playing the first two matches in the

2016 NAB Challenge The 2016 NAB Challenge was the Australian Football League (AFL) pre-season competition played before the 2016 home and away season. It featured 27 matches across 25 days, beginning February 18 and ending March 13. It was the third year in a r ...

, Stretch missed selection for the opening round match against and played his first AFL match of the year against at

Blundstone Arena Bellerive Oval, known commercially as Blundstone Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a cricket and Australian rules football ground located in Bellerive, a suburb on the eastern shore of Hobart, Australia, holding 20,000 people it is the largest ...

in round three. 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. He was omitted the next week for the match against at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and returned for the seventy-three point win against at

Metricon Stadium Carrara Stadium (known commercially as Metricon Stadium) is a stadium on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Carrara. The stadium is primarily used for Australian rules football, serving as the home ground of the ...

in round seven. His next two weeks saw him break his career-high disposal counts with twenty-five and thirty-one disposals against the and respectively. The match against Gold Coast saw him earn praise from then-Melbourne coach, Paul Roos, who said his game was "fantastic", and ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald S ...

'' chief of football writer, Mark Robinson, who commended his ball use and decision making. He missed one match for the remainder of the season, the thirty-six point loss against at

Etihad Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

in round seventeen to finish with sixteen matches for the season and a sixteenth-place finish in the

count. 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, Stretch played the opening five matches of the AFL season before he was dropped for the round six match against at Etihad Stadium. He spent nine weeks in the VFL before returning in the three point win against at Domain Stadium in round fourteen. He played three consecutive matches before being omitted for the round seventeen match against Adelaide at

TIO Stadium Marrara Oval, currently branded TIO Stadium under a naming rights agreement (and previously also known as Football Park), is a sports ground in Darwin, the capital of Australia's Northern Territory. The ground primarily hosts Australian rules ...

. 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, the thirteen point win against at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in round twenty-two. He finished the season with nine matches and signed a contract extension, tying him to the club until the end of the 2019 season. Stretch managed a further 11 games across the 2018 and 2019 seasons before being delisted at the end of 2019.

Statistics

: ''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2019 season'' , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, , 15 , , 11 , , 2 , , 2 , , 63 , , 51 , , 114 , , 26 , , 39 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 5.7 , , 4.7 , , 10.4 , , 2.4 , , 3.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, , 15 , , 16 , , 3 , , 4 , , 122 , , 170 , , 292 , , 49 , , 59 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 7.6 , , 10.6 , , 18.2 , , 3.1 , , 3.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, , 15 , , 9 , , 3 , , 4 , , 57 , , 107 , , 164 , , 30 , , 30 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 6.3 , , 11.9 , , 18.2 , , 3.3 , , 3.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, , 15 , , 2 , , 0 , , 2 , , 22 , , 18 , , 40 , , 7 , , 6 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 11.0 , , 9.0 , , 20.0 , , 3.5 , , 3.0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, , 15 , , 9 , , 2 , , 1 , , 91 , , 65 , , 156 , , 36 , , 27 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 10.1 , , 7.2 , , 17.3 , , 4.0 , , 3.0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 47 ! 10 ! 13 ! 355 ! 411 ! 766 ! 148 ! 161 ! 0.2 ! 0.3 ! 7.6 ! 8.7 ! 16.3 ! 3.1 ! 3.4

References

External links

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Billy Stretch's profile
from Demonwiki {{DEFAULTSORT:Stretch, Billy 1996 births Living people Melbourne Football Club players Casey Demons players Glenelg Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Adelaide People educated at Immanuel College, Adelaide