Billy Stretch

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]

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]

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]

Stretch managed a further 11 games across the 2018 and 2019 seasons before being delisted at the end of 2019.[41]

Statistics are correct to the end of the 2019 season[42]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Billy Stretch.

• Billy Stretch's profile on the official website of the Melbourne Football Club
• Billy Stretch's playing statistics from AFL Tables
• Billy Stretch on Twitter
• Billy Stretch's profile from Demonwiki