Personally I don’t see Stringer and Smith competing for Green’s spot. Maybe Begley for next season if he doesn’t have the tank to run through midfield often.
I think Green will be more of a stay at home, harrass defensively forward, whereas guys like Smith, Stringer and to a lesser degree Fanta and Walla will be spending bigger stints in the midfield than Green.
I’d like to see him given a run as a genuine back pocket. He has a real hard streak about him that you can’t teach.
That is still 5 names competing for the 3 small forwards possie. Hence why l say he will be competing with them.
And way before me too, but my memory was Sheedy being Sheedy was promoting that whole line with Long in 4. (this article suggests Long chose it? http://www.footyalmanac.com.au/a-tribute-to-norm-mcdonald/ )
Crichton Medallist in a Grand Final team featuring Hutchison, Reynolds, Clarke, Coleman…
Forgive my lack of recollection.
Did Michael Long take a few years to get going himself.
I mean>> he was always fken fast, but did he take like 3-4 years to find his feet?
No.
He played senior footy in his first year 89’, including finals.
Michael Long played 24 games in his first season in 1989.
What was he like in those 24 games?
Averaged 18.2 disposables, 2.8 marks, 2.6 tackles and scored 19 goals 10 behinds for the season. Fair effort I would think.
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According to PAV (hpnfooty.com) Long was our 5th most valuable player in 1989, behind Daniher, Watson, Madden and Anderson.
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And best first year player in the league
On top of dominating SANFL as an 18 year old before coming across
Anyone saying he took a while or peaked late drank too much through the 90s. He was phenomenal for the first 5-6 years then he got ruined by injuries.
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Michael was amazing the moment he played for Essendon. Just his deft touches to teammates was one of the things I remember back in my school days. Was one of my favourites straight away
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Now, there’s a question. What was he like? Absolutely wonderful. The sigh ‘Longyyyyyy’ would reverberate around the G as he bounced, carried the ball and kicked with absolute precision into the forward line. A more exciting player hasn’t been seen in the red and black since. Perhaps Walla, but not yet.
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Longy wasn’t the greatest kick early on, didn’t kick it far at all.
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I remember when Longy snr did his knee, thinking to myself: “we no longer have a match winner.” He was a class above. After doing his knees he was clever, but never quite as explosive.
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Michael was never a Long kick, but he was an accurate one.
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if there’s ever been a player not to judge by stats - it’s Longy.
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Based on his finals series in '93, I thought he was on the cusp of being the best player in the comp, then he did the knee in Feb 94 in a pre-season match v Eagles in Perth. I remember reading about it at the airport as I was flying out on my honeymoon.
What a mood-killer that was!!
STILL GET LUCKY?
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of the last 3 to be signed, he’s at least the one who makes the most sense, but even then the question marks around what people are going to expect to happen if they just stick him in the vfl and hope he getss 30 possies a game to somehow “justify” a call up in their eyes.
I said it during the season, Just like tippa he will never seem that handy at VFL because he’ll be an impact player, not a 30 possie a game player.
and if your vfl team is a middle of the road side like ours is, he will never really stand out.
Look how important tippa is now, and you could argue he prolly wouldn’t even be out there if the 12 didn’t get suspended, and by his own words he’d have given up at the end of last year.
Long will be the same, keep him in the vfl and it’s pointless cos you won’t see effect he has on games and the impact.
That being said with stringer smith and saad coming in, i don’t see how he gets a gig, unless alot of injuries happen.
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