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

Paddy ryder for cooney and a kid who wasn’t given a proper chance. well done essendon

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ryder for nothing, hibberd for nothing, carlisle for potentially nothing, crameri the only saga loss that is bearing any fruit at the moment. You simply can not lose 4 best 22 players, in their prime, and net one in return. Unacceptable.

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Let’s not carry on until the guy leaves.

As for Carlisle, we picked up Francis, what has happened to him has nothing to do with the club, and based on talent alone, he was a worthy pickup at that spot. And most people on here were delighted we picked him up too.

Ryder issue was also not our fault, we were royally screwed over with no where to go on that one.

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And sadly we only have ourselves to blame.

There is something really lacking in our footy department and has been for a long time.
This bloke is another Houli. I hope if he as fortunate as Bachar, shifts to a succesful club and gets a fair run at playing.

There’s still around 15 weeks to go. Start giving him games, FFS.

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My view is that you play players where they will play their best football.

If the club has a gap in its list then recruit specific players who are best suited for that role. Trying to make a square peg into a round peg to fit the round hole is not the best way to do it.

If there is a problem due to a key injury and you need to plug that gap then sure, throw someone who is suitable to do that role. But longer term for both the player and the team you play players to their strengths.

I don’t know what Langford thinks about all this. Whether he really prefers to become an inside mid and is happy to work on his game to make himself into one. If he has the attributes, great. If he can do it, wonderful. Or is this trying to force an outcome that is not really achievable?

Which is better value: Langford with 60% output as inside onballer or Langford with 90% output as forward-outside onballer?

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As I’ve said before, I don’t get how what he has shown he CAN do - excellent mark, present to the footy, kicks goals, Farks Carlton - was deemed of no value and instead banished to the VFL to become something else altogether.
And spare me the whole “yes , but we got Stringer etc” thing, because this was going on well prior to Jake arriving.

If I take what 'Boot has suggested at face value, is it a case of Skipworth not wanting him in the forward line? And now he’s moved to midfield coach and doesn’t want him? And now the kid doesn’t know wtf is meant to happen?

But I’ve harped on this enough. In truth, I don’t know if Langford is happy with the process and the club’s pathway for him. Maybe he is. But it seems that he gets punished for what we want him to be, and ignored for what he actually is.

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Our issue is this.

He’s not a big bodied inside mid when we need one which isn’t his fault.

But as a 2nd possession mid we actually have heaps of them … who also at a guess win more contested footy than he does.

Zerrett, Smith & Parish very different to what Langford might bring.

IMO he’s basically competing not with Myers or the above but with Heppell, Zaka & Goddard.

Does he trump any of those 3? No he doesn’t

He’s not playing inside mid, or fwd, or wing at VFL level. He’s part of main midfield rotations but not the one digging the ball out much with Clarke and others doing it. And his possession count and impact is strong acccordingly. Creative handballs away from stoppage in that recent clip were great.

We need a brute inside mid still - perhaps it’s Clarke to take Myers spot, but probably also need Lang to transition into Goddards spot.

Looking at options I’d probably play Goddard as inside mid now as we have already at times had him doing accountable roles on opposition inside mids, and drop Myers and then have Langford play the more outside utility role.

In the interim with injury to JD perhaps we may well see a different fwd structure and opportunity fwd again. Not that playing in our fwd line will be much fun at present.

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Let go of him, he’s going to leave and we all know it because these fckin idiots in the coaching staff ranks won’t even give him a decent chance, regardless of what they think of him

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You can blame him all you want, and I’m not a fan of him at all, but I hope you lay some, if not most of the blame on worsfold too. It’s only fair. He’s the senior coach, if he wanted to play him, he would

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He’ll hardly play all year, he’ll request a trade and then we will ask for a 1st rounder for him.

Fkn morons.

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He’s a midfielder.

Absolutely no question about that.

Whats questionable is the way they are managing him.

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Everyone is questioning how we are managing him

He never was a midfielder. But been developed accordingly and showing consistency and skills as one at VFL level. It’s worked.

So his management in that aspect has been good

The issue isn’t management now it’s opportunity for a role for the type of player he is which is not what Myers is doing/trying to do. He won’t be the first or last player to have to wait for opportunity.

But if no injuries to those ahead of him in those spots and we don’t find a way to rearrange the side to fit him in then guaranteed opportunity elsewhere might see him lost.

This is the kinda player than can end coaches careers. Mismanage him, give him limited game time, then he moves to another club and stars. Your opinion as a coach get wrecked.

It’s ridiculous if they don’t bring him in for the next 6-8 weeks, 80% game time in the middle. We are not making finals, it’s time to plan for 2019 and Langford should be a massive part of that.

If they are happy to let senior players stink it up for two months then surely they can give a kid a chance to do the same.

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We’re wasting time playing bj ahead of him in the middle. Ditto playing Myers ahead of Clarke.

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MO of the club. Wasting time for things successful club’s address rather early.

Yep.

WCE were stale and boring last year this season however, Ryan, Rioli, Waterman, Venables, Cole, Petrucelle have all added something.

At the very least they add exuberance which lifts the older blokes, Lecra is thriving again when he looked cooked last year.

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Based on the ‘waiting’ scenario dont expect him to ever get an opportunity unfortunately.

Our midfield is bottom two in the league and not even performing to our own internal expectations but we continue to roll with it like we have always done in the past.

Hardly, this happens at most clubs at some point in a coaches career and it rarely (if ever) results in them being sacked.

Win/Loss results in them being sacked generally, not player management (unless the players hate them like what seem to happen at StKilda).

Playing young guys also increases the pool of players you can rotate through the firsts - pretty important the way footy is now, where players have to play at such a high tempo, you need to get some fresh legs rotating through the firsts more often than you did in the past.

It’s another area we fall down in - reckon the Dons have the least number of debutantes in 2018 than any other club… inexcusable when this year now is (and probably should have always been) a rebuilding year.

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