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

Football Discussion Dustin Fletcher Hangar
3596

I agree. But I still think he can get better at aggressive higher risk decision making.

What Langford hates doing is turning the ball over or selling a team mate into trouble. It’s why i hated seeing him get given the ball when the team was on a fast break… because he rarely progressed the break and often went to a safer option backwards.

Very much looking forward to his performance in the guts in the AFL in 2018. And that from a guy who thinks Langfords best and most natural position is as a medium forward.

3597

Below is the assessment of Langfords 2017 and you can see a distinct pattern.

He trained in the preseason as a midfielder and their were some big comments from the club and himself about his transition into the midfield(I believe this put unnecessary pressure on him to perform in that role). For some inexplicable reason he was then started as a forward where he was only just going.

From there Woosha and Langford sat down and it was decided that he would go back to the VFL and play mostly midfield with stints forward. From his very first game he showed great talent along with a high workrate( was consistently laying 8+ tackles a game).

After a consistent run of form where he was getting high possessions, lots of clearances and also drifting forward to hit the scoreboard(he kicked 13 goals from 14 VFL games) he was promoted to the senior side.

For some reason only known to the coaches he was played as a forward in his first game back against Sydney where he again didn’t perform. The following game he played midfield against Brisbane where most people thought he was one of our better players but the following week he was rested before returning to the VFL.

His first game back in the VFL from that disappointment he had 26 touches to go with 4 goals and clear best on ground. It was around this period that Laverde was promoted t the senior side on the back of two big games playing as a forward. Clearly the club thought it best that Langford remain in the VFL to work on his midfield game and not continue to hurt his confidence by playing him as a forward in the seniors.

From here he had some average games along with more best on grounds.

People can say what they like about Langford if it pleases them but in my opinion when given opportunities as a midfielder he excelled and it’s unfair to evaluate him on the minimal opportunities he was given at senior level.

For somebody that has only just this year played as a midfielder against mature bodies I believe Langford has great potential.

http://www.aflplayerratings.com.au/Ratings/Player/120040/Kyle-LANGFORD

Kyle LANGFORD
#30 Essendon

Age: 20yr 10mth Games: 32 Born: Dec 01, 1996
Height: 191cm Weight: 80kg Position:
2017 Digest: Looked quite sharp in JLT series and appears to have taken a decent step forward.

2017 NAB Cup:

2017 Season
1 Haw Quieter night overall with just 11 touches, but still did a few handy things. 4
2 Bris Played well in patches. Kicked a goal in last quarter when needed. 5
3 Carl Fumbled his way through the day in what was a horror. Two kicks for the day. 1
4 Adel Two opportunist goals but hardly sighted, needs to do more to make his presence felt. 5
5 VFL Laid 11 tackles to ensure Collingwood never got any room to move. Add in 22 possessions and four clearances too. -
6 VFL Tackled his heart out – 14 tackles to go with 20 possessions. Impressive workrate this season. -
7 Rested.
8 VFL Impressed with 21 touches, two goals and a handful of tackles. Playing good footy. -
9 VFL Continues to grow in midfield role the longer he spends in there. Had 34 possessions and booted two goals. -
10 VFL Did well in patches, but lacked consistent impact overall. -
11 VFL A beast at the stoppages with 11 clearances to go with his 32 possessions. Relishing midfield time. -
12 VFL One of the Bombers best again. 28 touches, nine clearances and five inside 50s. Super. -
13 Bye.
14 Syd Played forward after starring as a midfielder in VFL. Didn’t use the ball as well as he’d hope. 4
15 Bris Matched with Rich early as he spent more time in midfield. His game tailed off later. 5
16 Senior emergency.
17 VFL A good game in the midfield. Had 26 touches and four goals. One “everything clicks” preseason away. -
18 VFL Found a fair amount of the footy in the middle, but his disposals just didn’t translate to anything. -
19 VFL Another good day in midfield. Becoming a better contested player with 10 contested possessions and five tackles. -
20 VFL Bye. -
21 VFL Not as influential as he has been, but defensively work was good around the ball. -
22 VFL Excellent outing with 30 possessions, eight marks. Bombers best. -
23 VFL Won the ball fairly well, but ball use was below par. -
EF -

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3598

Thanks Killer Mike – good to see a recap with a quick summary of his performance at VFL level. Reads pretty well and promises good things if he an replicate his form in the seniors. I just haven’t seen it yet. I worry about the speed of the game at the top level and whether Kyle is quite up to it. I truly hope that I am wrong

Fingers crossed that you are right – much better for the Bombers if so. Hope springs eternal – especially in between seasons…

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3599

I know mate, was just pointing out some of the younger players that scored very well.

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3600

Nice write up, a lot of good information there. I for one are not talking him down. Just stating that he is exactly where I expected him to be as a fwd who they are turning into a mid. I stand by my comment that he was not as good or consistent as seasoned vets like, Hocking, Bird, Myers, etc. But I wasn’t expecting him to be. Next year however I wont be surprised to see him go past the likes of these players. What bugs me though is people saying he should have been playing in the ones above the likes of Myers. Until he is better and more consistent, he stays in the 2nd’s where he can continue to develop. Im of the opinion that in the AFL you play best available, if a kid is level pegging in the same position I am happy to and think we should play the younger player. If not they stay in the seconds until they earn there spot.

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3601

Yeah, fair enough. Players like Langers do generally divide opinions because they do appear to be not performing to the level that most expect.

Me personally for a 20 year old that is still growing into his body and switching from a forward to playing midfield he has exceeded my expectations.

Whether people rate him or not is irrelevant to me its more that people are rating him on his appearances at senior level as a forward or the grand total of about 6 quarters he played in thee seniors in midfield.

I was just merely pointing out that when given opportunities as a mid he has actually performed to a very high level and in my opinion was probably not given the opportunities that he deserved at senior level due to a number of different factors.

This discussion isn’t about Myers but he for example as given far more opportunity at senior level even though he was underperforming for a number of games and even when playing his best football he was still in my opinion below average. Everybody rates players differently though and the coaches would know far more than me or anybody else on this forum about what is expected of the players.

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3602

Funny how we see guys come good in their third or fourth season after learning the ropes in the magoos at other clubs (eg Seb Ross and Ryan O’Keefe) and we think how patient that club has been, but when it’s our own club, that patience is nowhere to be seen.

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3603

Add the Crouch brothers to that.

3604

Pretty well all of Geelong’s big guns of the oughties.

Michael Tuck and Gary O’Donnell played about 4 seasons of reserves football.

3605

But, but, but… you can only develop playing in the 1’s!!! Or so I thought from reading blitz

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3606

Yep.

Some see an apprenticeship as being somebody that can’t make the big league.

The club certainly doesn’t see it that way.

I think the biggest positive from our club in the last ten years was ridding ourselves of the Bendigo connection. We are starting to see our young players develop in the positions that they will be playing in in the seniors.

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3607

Oh well based on all that, he’s definitely going to make it

3608

Pretty standard response from someone who doesn’t have the faintest idea of how logic works.

3609

But the vast majority of footy players never make it.

3610

We should just cut our list back to 22 then.

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3611

Brad Crouch played 4 SANFL games in his first AFL eligible year and 2 in his second. Averaged over 24 disposals at AFL level in both years, not playing aaa much as he could have because of injury. Matt Crouch played 17 games averaging 21 and 4 clearances in his 2nd year.

Both have since taken it to a whole new level, but they did just fine early days.

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3612

sorry mate, I bow to your wealth of knowledge.

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3613

Fair comment about growing into his body. Maybe that reinforces idea of developing midfield craft in the VFL.

I agree that we’ve seen very little of him as a mid in the seniors. Last season he got very few minutes as a dedicated mid.

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3614

Yep, Brad played 14 SANFL games in his first year on an AFL list though which is a significant advantage to not being on an AFL list.

He also played 6 games of SANFL just last season as a 22 year old and even 2 games this season. The point is patience is required and the clubs don’t see it as a negative for these young guys to be playing in a lower level if they are working on their weaknesses.

Considering that the Crouch brothers have both been played predominately as mids their whole careers and have only just broken through this year and are 2 and 3 years older tells me that Langford is tracking just fine.

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3615

He played 4 games of SANFL last year, and started in the SANFL this year after missing the whole pre-season comp and the start of the season proper with a hamstring injury, which I would consider mitigating circumstances.

I don’t disagree with your point that playing state league isn’t inherently a negative reflection on a player, I just think your example of the Crouch brothers is way off the mark. Especially saying Matt Crouch only broke through this year. He was a fixture in their team all of last year, and one of their leading ball winners. If Langford’s 2017 had been Crouch’s 2016 (22 games, 27 disposals and 4 clearance a game), this thread would quite rightly be nonstop lid off.

The reason I’m arguing about the specific case rather than the general point is not because mids that aren’t best 22 within their first few years don’t exist (eg Seb Ross as Noonan points out), but because they’re not very common, and I think it’s important to acknowledge how uncommon it is, especially if you discount players who’ve been substantially injured early on.

Obviously if you see “it” in Langford there are examples to show him becoming a topline mid from where he is now isn’t unprecedented. But I think it’s reasonable for people who don’t see “it” to be at least concerned that his career from here will be like most players who’ve had similar careers to date.

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