Just going on the BoM for the current week actually, but praise away
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No injury. Because we have someone better to take his place. Benny is in form and Kyle isnât.
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Kyle is also 19/20 and has a lot more upside and needs to be groomed to replace the older brigade.
No problem with Howlett coming in, wouldnât be dropping Langford. You donât drop a kid in his shoes after Rd 1.
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Off a huge sample size of one game.
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Unless of course you look at both players JLT and VFL pre season games. Benny is well ahead IMO. You make a completely fair point but in this case I disagree. It wonât be long before The Langford makes the grade but for the Brisbane game Howlett is a better choice.
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Makes sense to play Langford in the wet, since his movements always look like heâs underwater.
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I wouldnât change the side after that performance and I certainly wouldnât use JLT and VFL practice matches as indicators of form.
Langford didnât get high numbers and we didnât need him to in the end. Our mids did and our forward flankers were effective.
Seemed to get most of his touches across the back half so it may have been a change of role for him.
it was a good formula that got us a good result. Letâs keep that going.
Our side only had 3 genuine kids playing last weekend and Parish and McG both held their own. That really only leaves Langford as the one development spot at the moment. He was WOG in my opinion but id rather give him a block of 4 games to develop him.
We have a lot of promising youth and we need to get games into them, if Benny comes in it should be to ease the load of senior players not at the expense of junior guys. I want Langford, Laverede, Begley, Ridley, Francis and McKenna get 8 or so games each this year. Which means we need to keep spots 21 and 22 open for them to rotate through.
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Eternal quest for pumping games into kids hits an end point somewhere along the line.
In the Cats 2007 premiership the ONLY kid (1st year) who got games IIRC was Joel Selwood and that was because he was simply ready to step up and win his position comparative to others. They were about winning games of footy in the NOW. Development for others is done in the 2âs!
Woosh has already said younger players will play if they are performing at the same level as their experienced team mates and have the potential to offer more.
We actually have heaps of young players in the team already now. Hartley, McGrath, Parish, Zerrett, TIPPA, Raz, JD. The blend of experience and youth is good for us at the moment.
I donât think it will happen but if Langford went out for Howlett for a game in the wet whose consistency of performance would be higher at present I donât see it as a problem.
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I think we are going for the win now. A youth policy would be playing kids instead of Stanton or Kelly etc.
If we played a final tomorrow absolutely I would have Benny instead of Langford. But we donât, we play finals in 20 games. Itâs smart list management to ensure your getting games into kids and you should hold the last spot open for it. Another 10 games into Langford and he may be more valuable than benny in a final. Howlett, Hocking and Bird are the fringe B graders this year that lose out. If a senior guy gets injured or needs a rest they come in. We want sustained success, so when itâs time for Goddard, Watson, Stanton and Kelly to hang up the boots you want players ready to take the mantle.
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Afl fixture is a joke. Why canât they clearly label if âEssingtonâ is playing this week? Think of the supporters traveling interstate!
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To add Iâm not saying Howlett canât get a game is only back up and should not bother trying. He gets a few Bogs in a row he should come in. But I think heâs competing with the current second tier mids like Zaha or Colyer. His form in the 2âs applies pressure to those blokes.
Iâm the opposite.
I think win as many games as you can initially via experienced players to get us in finals contention. And then as they need to be rested bring kids in.
Howlett is one who runs out of steam given the combative style game he plays. Let him drive himself through brick walls to help us win games of footy, then rest him and let Langford & others pull up the slack. Same could be said of any of our inside mids who have to do the heavy lifting.
That said we have Hocking, Bird and Myers also going to be in the mix as cover.
Weâve seen in previous years Hawks & Freo go all out to get their 14wins and then start resting senior players and giving kids a go in the latter half of season.
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Scoring in the game against Hawthorn was dominated by turnovers, with 13 goals to us and 7 goals to Hawthorn. There were very few goals from stoppages. ( Thats a Dangerwood speciality. )
I think we have a better spine and faster outside players and we need to do the same with Brisbane, but Zorko and Beams are potentially our problem with winning clearances and getting the ball into their F50 with one kick.
I noticed Jobe had 29 pressure acts against Hawthorn and âonlyâ 27 disposals. We need him to pressure Rockliffe and limit his possessions, even though Rockliffe is not a very effective user, he gets so much of it .
We can get Zac and Hepp to go head to head with Zorko and Beams.
If its going to be wet, Bobcat would be a good selection.
So, lets say Langford had bagged those 2 goals, would we be saying lets drop him ?
No. But if there is a strong likelihood of rain, such a change might be a good idea.
Nah, Smack saw off that demon against the Hawks (50 games!).
New times, new ways.
Go Bombers!
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Some people seemingly donât realise thereâs a middle ground between âdrop Goddard Stanton and Kelly and play Ridley and Mutchâ and âplay Howlett Hocking Bird etc.â
Playing a not-necessarily-thriving Langford is it. Heâs exactly the type we should be playing. If LAV was fit heâd be in it too. I know what they say about ifs and buts but if Langford kicks that soda and didnât get a rush of blood with the snap in front we wouldnât be having this discussion.
Itâs just ridiculous to drop a kid in his shoes after ONE round of a âdecentâ performance given where weâre at. We could VERY easily be without Stanton Kelly Goddard and the man himself in Howlett next year. We wonât be top 4 this year, which means we need to improve over the course of this season and more than just what Parish and McGrathâs natural trajectory will give us. We need to find players out of Langford/LAV/Francis/Mutch/Begley/McKenna/Long(/Ridley?). Just because we beat a pretty poor Hawthorn doesnât mean we shouldnât stop planning for the future. This is what worried me pre-pre-season.
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Lav wouldâve got 6.
Josh Green ruled out with a hammy
Howlett in youâd think. Disappointed for the CorgiâŚ
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