Heh, what roles did Laverde and Langford play in juniors?
If I remember correctly, they were both forwards. But Laverde was supposed to be the one that transitioned to midfield. Was supposed to be a big bodied mid with a good burst of speed.
Langford played CHF but I believe he was a small forward/mid as an under 16, he grew a fair bit, Laverde started as a half back and was moved forward after dominating there at the champs. Actually played the first champs game down back and was moved forward half way through on a whim.
So we could trade a current backline mid and play Lav backâŚmmmm
Interesting part of Dodcast with Dev and Disco
Youâre just letting us all know you have memory loss?
Anyone not counting McGrath as a midfielder needs their head examined. He was recruited to be a midfielder, heâs playing as a midfielder, and heâs doing damn fine.
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Yesterdayâs game was his standard as a mid in his draft year, was a ball magnet and clearance machine.
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Jake Riccardi would look pretty good in our forward line right now. Ready made AFL build, strong, kicks straight. St.Bernards boy as well, so we shouldâve known about him. GWS got a steal at Pick 51âŚ
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Always had the talent but attitude was something he needed to work on. I wasnât shocked to see him taken late in the draft and Giants will be hoping a bit of maturity will go along way for him having a long AFL career.
Of course we knew about him but he was always going to go late and 2 games of AFL doesnât make a player, so saying he was a steal at this time is very premature. There is a reason he is a late pick and overlooked previously. Jury is a long way out on whether he will make it or not. I wanted him as well but wasnât fussed we didnât pick him up.
Why was he always going to go late? Genuine question, whatâs his downside because heâs tearing apart some decent defensive sides right now.
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In an interview earlier in the year he talks about mostly CHB & CHF.
A Q&A session followed Kyleâs talk and he was asked about the positions he played as a junior. His time at Macleod was spent at centre half back because thatâs where the football spent its time in his teams. âWhen I went into my 18âs year I played school footy at Ivanhoe Grammar and I played purely at centre half back and at Northern Knights I was at centre half forward and then at Vic Metro which I was lucky enough to get in, I played centre half back.â Being drafted to Essendon gave Kyle a chance to spread his skills. âI never really played midfield properly and all of a sudden Woosha (John Worsfold, Essendon coach) wants me to play midfield, so itâs quite exciting.â
https://www.yarrajfl.org.au/2020/02/22/kyle-langford-summer-dev/
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Heâs played 2 games, hardly tearing much apart when the opposition havenât really seen him or put as much work into his matchups yet.
I hope he makes it, he does have some talent.
Itâs all very well reserving judgement on him after 2 games, but if he kicked 6 goals and played as well as he has in those 2 games for us, we would be beside ourselves singing his praises.
I was pretty fussed when we didnât pick him up, especially when he was clearly ready made and still available for as long as he was.
I hope Jones and Bryan go on to justify our choice, but we are going to have to wait a couple of years at least for them to get where Riccardi appears to be right now.
PS Just so it doesnât look like hindsight, I wanted us to take Rantall and Riccardi with our first 2 picks. Iâve forgotten what picks they were before we traded up to make sure of Jones, but we could have done it.
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Juniors is a shitshow for talented blokes who are around 190cm. They end up playing kpp because theyâre often one of the taller guys on their team, but if they make it to AFL thatâs just not going to cut the mustard in a key post, so the first thing theyâll be told is âweâre planning to develop you as a midfielder/3rd defender, so get ready to rebuild your game from the ground upâ.
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Yeah, exactly which I have been patient with my expectations of Langers. Heâs always had plenty of talent it was just a matter of him maturing.
If I do have one criticism of the clubs development of him outside too much VFL is bulking him up too much. He looks lighter this year and heâs covering the ground much better.
Well you can have one less criticism then. The club has never bulked Kyle up. He did that himself with his constant extra gym sessions to get himself stronger. It was also his choice to drop weight as he thought it was affecting his running capabilities. Heâs quite in tune with what he is doing for a young bloke Kyle.
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Thats even more concerning if the players are running their own programs.
Really?
Theyâre not. Kyle is one of those people that leave no stone unturned. He did mountains of gym work by himself outside of the program. Same as he did with his running to build the tank he has. When he thought heâd gotten a bit too heavy, he trimmed himself down a bit. I wish all our players were that dedicated, had that awareness, and put in the extra hours to improve themselves like that.
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