#34 Jake Long - you’re cut, so long

If he had his Mums last name people would look him differently, he should change it to that.

Welcome to the club Jake Wanganeen.

:flushed:

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The issue with his Collingwood game is I suspect he got 7-8 of those disposals in the first quarter when he was one of our best players, and absolutely critical. I think he would have had 3 goal assists in that quarter as well.

But then he had a similar number of touches for the rest of the game.

I’m not sure how he could be rated 6th best against Richmond and Hind not even make the list.

I don’t think anyone is rating him against his name or his background. And frankly, at this stage who his parents are shouldn’t matter at all. Its whether he’s shown enough to think he’ll make an AFL career, and right now there are a lot of doubts about that based on his (not his family’s) performances in the VFL.

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We don’t know what either of their roles were, for all we know Jake may have locked down his man and the coaches were happy with his role

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Your right. He has improved certain aspects of his game, namely his decision making he no longer bites off more than he can chew, unfortunately he hasn’t developed that ability to assert himself on games consistently.

I still think he should have been played ahead of colyer in the last few games this season.

I don’t know why you keep saying this.
If he had a different surname he’d have been delisted last year.
He’s had four years for five games.
He’ll be 23 before the start of next season.

He had a crack.
He’s a pretty good VFL player.

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Jakes first quarter against pies was good. and i thought he had plenty of it, but he wasnt in the top 3 possesion getters at quater time for us.

Maybe Pies coach told his player to play tighter on long after the first quarter. And then due to that it was hard for him to get hands on the ball.

His kicking efficiency was top notch in that first qtr too.

It just feels like we have come so far it would be a shame to cut him, when he is potentially playing his best footy. If he could get it 20 times a game he would have a good influence on the result.

I think his hardness is pretty good in tight and laying tackles.
its probably when there is a few around the ball he will let the other efc player get it etc and hang back a bit, or just lay a shepherd.

if only he had a bit more pace.

Yes, but watchers have that headache around young players all the time. And he might have had a role and done it well. We have to make a call on what we see, and that doesn’t mean the club will do what we think. As someone who I think is reasonably unbiased, he’s been disappointing in the second half of the season and the finals.

I would have liked to see him tried in other positions but I think 4 years on a list is long enough.

I can’t recall but I assume he was also a part of the James Hird academy which is another advantage that most other kids don’t get.

If he was good enough he would be playing far more games in the one’s by now.

Ahh, he’s been a back pocket all along. Now it makes sense.

My memory is too hazy to make this assessment, so I’ll open it up to others…how do you think the performances of Jake Long compare to Anthony Long?

Did Anthony even play? I thought he spent all his time in the rehab room

Has certainly improved but yeah, I think we have seen enough.

Because as much as people think it gave him an armchair ride to a few years of being paid to play footy, people need to understand it had its draw backs as well.

Some kids rise above their surname, others find it harder to overcome

I don’t think it gave him more of an armchair ride than any other fs.

We might not have drafted Jay or Darcy without it.
And we might not have drafted Jake.

Anyway, he’s had a decent crack.

I’m just saying some of those guys had issues carrying the surname

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That’s a personal problem for them to work out.

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Anthony played a couple of astonishingly good quarters , but barely played beyond that.

His best exposed form was far better than anything I’ve seen Jake output. But it’s meaningless because its a ridiculously small sample.

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You are either good enough or you aren’t regardless of surname.

But maybe the surname gets players slightly more leeway at times. And also brings more pressure.

But every listed player is going to feel pressure under the microscope that comes being in AFL

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Partly, it’s also up to clubs to help them develop coping mechanisms, entering professional football is pressure enough, having the additional expectation of being compared to what is almost always a great of the game is another level again.

It’s actually really interesting how much of a gulf in career success father sons have, take our club, on one hand you have Fletcher, Watson and Joe Daniher, on the other you have, Neagle, Darcy Daniher, Long.

No a lot in the middle there.

It must be hard when your trying to work out if you’re good enough in your own mind to have 50 people a game yelling how you’re not as good as your Dad

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