He’s never going to be a star but he could be a solid addition. Thursday’s game was his best yet in my opinion, by a long way. When you’re neither fast nor strong you need to be an excellent user and he’s solid to good in that space. Despite his frame, will never be a clearance specialist, but that’s fine. Stringer, Smith, Parish, Merrett, Heppell and possibly Laverde and Begley are / will be. On a related note, our midfield is having a great year and calls for inside midfielders are outdated.
They also keep calling Stringer “Smith” and, occasionally, “Toby” and/or “Josh”
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Loving langers games lately. He will break out very soon. Coming along nicely and hoping that’s haters stay in their shells👌
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I can actually see the S Black thing. Go find some footage of him. Used to love eking out a tiny little bit of space out of a clearance and looking for the half-forward target with a low ball. His work winning a hard ball is not something I can see Lang replicating, but the ball use from congestion is there.
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He shows an exceptional willingness and ability to learn. That leads me to believe he will become a clearance specialist in time. He has the right frame as you said, and the inevitable confidence with game time plus increasing mental/physical toughness will likely lead to an inside machine. Nothing’s certain but I reckon the odds favour this outcome.
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THE
Langford seems to be good at clearances around the ground but still working on centre bounce clearances. But his clearance numbers are improving and so is his delivery of the ball and decision making. His on field game time is slightly increasing too. Great signs for me
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Is this post about Langford?
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Black was a very good player when he began and ended up one of the best midfielders of the modern era. Langford’s got a long way to go before he can even be compared to one of the greats of the modern game.
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There are some people on this board who should feel particularly justified after Thursdays game. If only on the concept of “give the kid a run of six or so games and see what he can do”. On that concept a lot of people (including press) have been proven right. Sort of sad that it took things falling to ■■■■ before the move was made.
Kyle certainly has had a decent month with Thursdays game being a stand out. Clearances, possessions, goals…the complete mid game. Before I go overboard though I would like to see Thursdays game become his standard. I he can keep replicating that game to the end of the year then I am sold.
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Have I missed something? Did Langford dominate a game last week?
Gee people get excited about very little. His best game to date is still not better that what Kyle Reimers did, yet people are reacting like he just won a ■■■■■■■ Brownlow.
I really hope he makes it, but gee he needs to show a lot more than he has to convince me that he is the answer to our inside mid issues.
Perhaps also proves that VFL is best place for young players to learn their craft.
And when opportunity arises after a few false starts that said player implements what’s been asked. I’d think the key for Langford was strength over the ball / competitiveness.
He has been bringing that, and the other parts of his game that are natural to him - smooth moving / good disposal are also being seen.
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I agree in general terms with you are saying but at the same feel he was brought in and out of the side to fill gaps. It doesn’t help players get used to the pace of the game when that happens.
I suppose the upside of all this is that his future at the club depended on him taking his opportunities and this year he has certainly done that.
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He’s a far more rounded player right now than Reimers ever was. Weird comparison.
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Wasn’t comparing him to Reimers. Just don’t understand the love this guy is getting based on one 24 possession game.
It’s weird isn’t it.
Langford ave 19 disposals with 22 clearances from 7 games
Parish 18.75 disposals with 25 clearances from 8.
One is supposedly breaking out, one has regressed and only ever a b grader. Raw stats suggest there’s a bees ■■■■ in it.
Me, I like both and think they can both be integral in future years. Neither is giving the bnf a shake this year however.
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Agree. I really really hope they both become great players. But right now they are both Fringe players.
To be fair one of the players has only been given a fair crack the last few rounds and has shown significant improvement.
Langers has also shown that he has some significant kicking skills that can open a game up and great vision with handball.
He obviously has some ways to go but if you can’t see the potential considering his rate of improvement you aren’t looking hard enough.
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Both Langford and Parish are progressing exactly as expected. Not everyone is Zach Merrett/ Judd/ Clayton Oliver. These guys are freaks who are up there with having the greatest starts to careers in the modern era.
Langford has taken some time put weight on which is paramount for a young tall inside mid. After a few preseasons and extra size surprise surprise he’s starting to have some consistency in that inside role. Was never in doubt.
Parish honestly can’t have done much more in his short career as a very slim inside mid. He’s been best 22 since he was drafted FFS and was our best player in our only final last year. Not bad for someone who isn’t physically mature yet. Give him a few more preseasons to properly bulk up and build his engine to the point a top inside midfielder needs. When that time comes he will be in our top 5 players. Blitz LOL
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I read somewhere the other day that Langford weighed 70kg in his draft year as a 17 year old. He now ways 90kg only 3 years later.
That would require a lot of hard work and some adjustment to his game.
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