St Kilda coach Alan Richardson has backed Jack Billings to justify his high draft pick this season.
The 21-year-old was taken with pick three in the 2013 draft, one spot ahead of Western Bulldogs star Marcus Bontempelli.
Since then the two players have had drastically different fortunes. Bontempelli has risen to be one of the best players in the competition, while Billings has struggled with injuries.
Richardson told SEN Breakfast that Billings is prepared for a breakout season.
โWhen we go to the draft, there is something that we want and Jack Billings will become that player for us,โRichadson said.
โI think heโs heading in the right wayโฆHe hasnโt quite had the prep that heโd like in terms of trainingโฆfrom our perspective he has had a couple of injuries that he has had to overcome and thatโs important for a young bloke, to be able to get some continuity in their training.
โHe has just been outstanding for us in pre-season. The games are the ultimate test but we think he is tracking the right way. Really excited about Jack and what he is going to be for our team.โ
Richardson also ran through the process the club went through to appoint it's leadership group.
โWe initially voted on our leadership group, thatโs a player vote,โย Richardson told SEN Breakfast.
โFrom there, we ended up with eight (players). If there is eight that are quite dominant in terms of voting and thereโs bit of a gap, weโll have had eight. Had there been six, we would have stopped there.
โThat group, plus the three boys that snip out, Joey (Leigh Montagna), Rooey (Nick Riewoldt) and Sean Dempster, got together and had a chat about who should lead the team."
