VFL - Round 3 vs Pies @ Victoria Park, 2:10pm Saturday 21 April 2018 -- WITH FRANGA!

Everytime he gets picked after a good performance in the VFL he fails in the seniors seen it too many times to think otherwise.

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You didn’t address my point

bests per vfl site

Best Players: K. Langford, B. Zerk-Thatcher, D. Clarke, M. Leuenberger, B. Fennell, D. Younan

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That can’t be right

I want Langford to make it but playing as a mid is not helping.

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I take consolation in the fact that he’s being held out of the side because we have such a great midfield

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Fair enough I just think his best spot is wing/hf reads the play well and can take a mark or 2.

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Too many Collingwood plyers able to stand up and unload while being tackled, need a little work in that area imo.

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Langford is trying hard to be something he probably won’t ever be. An inside mid needs to be able to make quick decisions, be strong in the contests, both offensively and defensively, and dispose of it accurately in close.
Langford cannot make the quick decisions required. He second guesses himself, and has since day 1, and it looks like it isn’t going to change. Parish, for example, has done it from his first game (maybe a bit too much). As others have said, Langford has a lot of attributes (eg he is a really nice kick) but he probably will never be a good inside mid. Play him elsewhere or maybe lose him as a potential good forward.

Laverde has pretty much everything you need. He can hold onto the ball better than Langford because he has natural physical strength and speed of reaction that Langford doesn’t quite have. The only thing letting him down at the moment is his kicking. I was under the impression he was a good kick, but since mid last year, it has been poor. If he can get that right, he will be fine, wherever we want to play him.

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Here is the thing with Langford, I agree with Reboot, he is best played as a forward. Only problem is I can’t see a spot for him in the senior forward line unless there is an injury. So to become a best 22 player it probably has to be as a mid right now. So 3-4 more takes like that in a row and I hope he will have found the consistency and confidence to play like that in the seniors

As a mid though, Clarke is ahead of him for me.

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and with how we’ve recruited in recent years, his shots all but gone as a forward. has no trade currency either…

Zork-Thatcher shows a lot of promise. He certainly attacks it hard in the air. But in other respects, he isn’t anywhere near where he needs to be to survive at AFL level. He has plenty of willingness to contest and tackle, but his tackling at times today was brushed too easily. Shouldn’t really be a problem in the long run, assuming he gets stronger as he matures. But give him time.

I thought Houlihan looked a bit ordinary today. Too early to be making judgements, but not a lot on show at the moment.

Ridley and Draper I thought were a little disappointing today. Ridley certainly has the raw ingredients. Draper again failed to mark the ball when he had the chances today, as he did when I saw him live at Frankston. In modern football, you just can’t afford to play a ruckman for hitouts only - 90% of them end up as 50/50 contests no matter who gets the hitout.

Clarke looks about ready to try to make the step up. When he does it needs to be as a mid, not parked on a HFF or something, and we should be a bit patient with giving him time to make the adjustment to AFL.

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I agree on Clarke and the point about Draper’s marking.
But they need to start playing Draper in the ruck more. Looney’s doing it about 75% at the moment. It should be all about Draper’s development. 50/50 would be a better split at the moment. Enough to keep Looney ready for an AFL callup if need be.
Ideally by the end of the season Draper is getting 75%, because we really want him to be clear second ruck by season’s end and hopefully pushing Belly next season.

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You can’t bank on having your best forwards on the park all the time. There is plenty of scope for Langford to be a forward in our current side. With rotations the way they are, players are all over the place. Langford can play forward, maybe wing, maybe even half back. He is ok around the midfield contests, but just not as an inside, first possession mid. There are plenty of medium sized forwards succeeding in modern football. Forwards of Langford’s size and mobility are gradually overtaking the big forwards as the forwards of the modern game.

Gotta disagree with that, big forwards are having a resurgence

Stringer Forward™ has made it even harder for Langford to crack it down there.

I have zero issue with him playing on a wing though

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Great to see a VFL game, it’s been a while. Must be a ■■■■■■ tough job coaching a team for the benefit of another team.

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Wow - and what are your credentials to determine no trade value.Your obviously a very astute football person , well researched knowledgeable. Think if where he has developed in 3 years from a fwd. I see a midfielder who can play multiple positions in multiple sides perhaps not at Essendon , certainly not under your list management. You are so typical of so many in this forum to look at negatives rather than positives. By the way go Jacko kick 4

I think the most disappointing thing out of today is the possibility Jerrett is going to play seniors in the next 2 games

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Gee you’d be a nice bloke.

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