#4 Kyle Langford — not our worst in possibly our worst

I’ve never seen it with him but let’s wait and see. If we’re still having this kind of discussion this time next year (when his contract is about to expire) he should be traded.

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Personally thought he was an important part of our comeback late in the 3rd and early in the last quarter, found a couple of clearances and offered decisive link up play helping our midfield, which had been beaten to that point, get on top during that 7 goal burst. Picked up the pace well in the second half after a couple of months at VFL level, solid first up effort.

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Did he do much wrong on the weekend? I haven’t been able to bring myself to rewatch the game.

Because Myers was in the middle of a pretty solid patch of turnovers prior to his demotion. I didn’t particularly notice that with Kyle.

So while he may not have gotten as much of it as we would have liked. And while he did miss goals I think he would normally be kicking in his sleep. I do think he performed well enough to hold his spot over Myers.

Personally I thought he played his part without starring which for his first game back is all you can expect.

He only played 81 minutes out 118 for some reason so can’t really expect he’s going to dominate in a game with limited time and also playing 2 thirds of the game as a link up player and only a third as a clearance player.

As others have mentioned he’s going to be a slow burn

One thing that also has to be factored in is the role that some of these young guys are playing. Langers and Parish are the second wave of midfielders behind the primary mids of Jobe, Merrett, Heppell & Goddard. Until he’s given the responsibility of leading the midfield it’s unfair to judge him to harshly not knowing exactly what his role is and exactly what the coaching team expects of him.

The experience that they get this year is integral to them stepping up to primary mids in the next year or two. If we don’t give them a chance now then we are leaving ourselves open to far more risk next year and the following years.

Worst player ever.

Will be one of our best ever.

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So in essence this kid has played less than 3 qtrs… What is his role around the experience of heppel Watson etc., We do not know. He made a difference with his run and link and as his time increases on-ball, he will be the player who makes things happen. He does have very good hands and his upside is huge , that’s why our club took him. Give him some midfield responsibility now.

I thought he did ok. There is definately something there with him. Keep him in the midfield with little pathces up forward for the next month and see what he can do.

Needs a little more intensity in his game though.

Yeah, I agree.

I have watched all his VFL games live and he needs to be played full time mid so that he takes ownership of the role.

I personnally dont think he’s that big bodied clearance player that everyone expects though. He’s more the type of player that will cut you up if given time and space. I have seen him do some pretty excitjng things in the VFL that only very good players can do.

I think expectation is to great on him for someone that is still only 20.

I believe he’s going to be a very exciting player once mature.

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I don’t get that JB; what was done to Kepler?

Many of us thought he was the next Fletch and then he just lost it. I recall the game that he started to look like a real spud. It was against Collingwood at the G, and he was so out of touch that it was sad. Never saw him play well at all after that, confidence just disappeared. Are you saying that it was something Sheeds did ?

The carry on is that Sheeds played Kepler out of position and ruined his ability.

PS I am not saying i agree with that, just stating what people have always said.

The main thing he did wrong was not being Josh Kennedy. He had plenty of co-conspirators on that one.

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Needs more aggression, not sure that you can teach someone to play angry

Not sure you can teach posters that angry ain’t necessary.

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No Bird’s year was better than Myers’s 2014.

He was never a defender & played most of his junior footy as a tall onballer. He was possibly ahead of his time & might have developed similar to Blicavs if we had his time over again. Some players are versatile enough to play multiple positions, some guys need to be given a role & develop into it. Look at Carlise, was on track to become the best FB in the league, we played him forward then back again then forward & I believe his overall development suffered. Now Langford I believe is a forward & that’s a craft I think he needs to be learning not midfield. If we spend the next 2 years working on his inside game then it has to detract from what I believe is his natural game. He might become a great mid & his time forward just gives him wider skills base (hopefully) I just don’t want to see us waste a few years trying to make him into a mid then trow him back forward & wonder why he’s not as good as we remembered him being.

Speaking as a pretty big fan of him, he was pretty stinky first Q, OK after that, and was genuinely good in the last Q.

Mind you about a quarter of the side didn’t rock up until the 2nd quarter, so not sure we hang him on that.

Mismanaged or just not that good? Terrible terrible draft, the only tall you’d say was better than him was Troy Chaplin, until you get to a few mature agers taken pick 60+

Maybe a little of both. Like I said he was different to any player at that time & we probably didn’t really know what to do with him.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone like him, ever. I’m not sure anyone knew what they should do with him. But yes, fullback was not it.

On Kepler…
Put simply…
Freo got more out of him than we did. We played him in the backline.
Freo played him as a forward and gave him some small spurts in the ruck to give Sandilands a break.
He may not have kicked a lot of goals, but he was able to provide a target and if the ball came to ground, he’d be a chance against opponents his size.