Agree 100% but i think he had a set back early in the pre-season and may have been playing WAFL to get some fitness.
Coach Adam Simpson Megathread est. 2017 - Staying for 2024, Lyon’s Cryin’
- Thread starter Carbine Chaos
- Start date
-
- Tags
- autopsy
- Tagged users None
- Status
Agree 100% but i think he had a set back early in the pre-season and may have been playing WAFL to get some fitness.
RookiePick
Brownlow Medallist
- Aug 13, 2014
- 26,478
- 47,120
- AFL Club
- West Coast
I'm prepared to give him a fair go but he does have some traits that look ripe for exploitation. Up to the backline as a whole to cover each others short comings and maximise the damaging attributes they possess.
I think he came in around the first few games replacing Hurn and showed a lot of promise. Then around mid season went out with groin problems, and came back in the last few games. Had a stand out performance against the Pies and Lions at Gabba.
It'd be unfair to judge him too harshly on 2021 season, it was such a sh*tshow for the team as a whole, but he did crack some elite stats at times, so with a good preseason under his belt and all the usual blah-blah (new coaches, tweaked gameplan etc) we wait and see. But he just might be the goods that we need - clean fast missiles out of defence? Not sure about his speed...?
To be fair Langdon does the hard running dirty work that often isn't rewarded. He's not as damaging as our other forwards but i'd like to see if its a role thing or lack of offensive ability. He should be able to average a goal a game.
Witherden will be a guy who plays loose and stuffs the stats sheet with 15 m kicks but wont really be damaging. If he could just improve his defending or bite off more offensive targets he will be terrific!
Witherden regularly hits 40-50m kicks with precision. He is currently our only midsize defender with that skillset as Hurn does not go for them anymore. Strange post.
- Jan 13, 2013
- 23,051
- 45,018
- AFL Club
- West Coast
- Mar 11, 2015
- 1,565
- 3,295
- AFL Club
- West Coast
He’s a poor kick over 40m the rest of his game is sound. He tries his guts out every time he’s out there. I wish I could say that about all our players.
Langdon can barely kick it 15m
kaiserchief13
Hall of Famer
- Jul 12, 2011
- 33,896
- 24,708
- AFL Club
- West Coast
- Other Teams
- Eagles, Lakers, Bayern, Trojans
Yeah but in current AFL you got to be able to kick the ball 50m....opposition know this and just leave him free 40m from goal because he's no threat
wooshwhisperer
Senior List
- Sep 13, 2010
- 224
- 257
- AFL Club
- West Coast
- Other Teams
- West Perth
It's not runball or tryball or gutsball... it is called football for a reason. He totally lost me when a shot at goal 10m inside 50 didn't even make the goal square.
How can an AFL listed player have such a piss weak kick?
LittleFires
Preseason nuffy
Well well well...
- Jul 4, 2015
- 1,315
- 2,275
- AFL Club
- West Coast
- Other Teams
- Swan Districts
Plenty of players can't kick 50.
Issue with Langdon is that he tried a set shot on goal twice in one game & results were miserable.....know your limitations, learn the 1st time.
(leaders on ground can help this too, though)
I Like Witherden, not sure that he hits long targets regularly, though.
Aint no Louis Jetta.
Would like to see Rotham taking on the play and hitting those 50/50 kicks inside a bit more now.....see what new coaches have to say.
Brander was one who actually did do those precision kicks from half back.
Issue with Langdon is that he tried a set shot on goal twice in one game & results were miserable.....know your limitations, learn the 1st time.
(leaders on ground can help this too, though)
I Like Witherden, not sure that he hits long targets regularly, though.
Aint no Louis Jetta.
Would like to see Rotham taking on the play and hitting those 50/50 kicks inside a bit more now.....see what new coaches have to say.
Brander was one who actually did do those precision kicks from half back.
- Jul 4, 2015
- 1,315
- 2,275
- AFL Club
- West Coast
- Other Teams
- Swan Districts
Young fella then. That was before GWS S&C crew messed up his legs, apparently......SGIO insurance covers leg conditioning
I have done it myself. Told myself not to kick it too hard, just steady and accurate, and it went only about 35 m. Man, I was embarrassed.
Most players have to be able to, yes. Small forwards, the really good ones can get away with less - but they have to have something else (pace, creativity etc). Dan Butler for instance can't kick 50, but he's quick and reads the game exceptionally well.
Langdon needs to find/show an elite trait (outside of running) to make it long term. His kicking depth is obviously a weakness, but if he supplements it in other areas then it isn't a career killer.
He can kick 45-50 metres on the run no issue, the problem is because he does so much running a lot of his shots are after he's just been sprinting and then can't make his normal distance which for a set shot is 40m out for it to get over the goal line.
Also at training I used to be able to kick 90%+ from 40 out, about 50% from 50 out and could bomb them from 60. But come game time if i was cooked I had similar distance issues to Langdon. Luckily when I played as a leading (and crumbing but I was more lead up) small forward it was a much more stay at home job.
Watched the 2018 GF highlights recently (yes, footy withdrawals are upon me) and recalled the run+gun game style was already in place with the Pies then, and since the Doggies GF win of course before that.
So it's taken us 4 yrs to adapt!?
I had an an amusing thought - what if we've finally adapted to the run+gun style this preseason, only to find that the rest of the comp has already moved onto a new game style? Oh well, at least we now have a plan A and a plan B!
(yes, I know its not as simple as that)
Re Langdon, surely he'll be a depth player going forward, not a best 22?
So it's taken us 4 yrs to adapt!?
I had an an amusing thought - what if we've finally adapted to the run+gun style this preseason, only to find that the rest of the comp has already moved onto a new game style? Oh well, at least we now have a plan A and a plan B!
(yes, I know its not as simple as that)
Re Langdon, surely he'll be a depth player going forward, not a best 22?
Last edited:
For many fans 2018 was the Eagles best team EVER, but it wasnt, it was the best on the day. Our opponents have also battled since coming close.
It will be interesting to see our 2022 game plan - a plan B to limit surges by our opponents will be a start.
Last edited:
I'm sure there's a correlation between the sheer volume of running he's doing and then not having the power in his legs to kick goals.
Guys like Bont should be held in higher esteem for the incredible distance they cover in a game while still managing to kick 2-3 goals. It's bloody amazing.
It's a good point...have often wondered when a player misses an easy set shot on goal, if it was because they've just done a heap of running to get there, or its towards the end of the game, and their legs are like jelly?
A non-AFL friend remarked "these guys get paid loads of money, are supposed to be pro-sportsmen, yet they miss right in front of the goals, how is that even possible?"...they also average about 14 kms a game! (it's not a round ball, there's the dropping action, where it lands on the boot, the wind, ufo's etc)
Or they're Nat Fyfe and too lazy to improve a poor technique despite over a decade in the system.
Yes, and it very nearly wasn't the best team on the day!
There's so many small contributing and detracting factors within a game, that affect the final outcome.. if a player had of zigged instead of zagged, or kicked short instead of long, or handballed instead of keeping possession, or stuck a tackle etc...
Limiting surges would be a good start, while having our own 'increased and improved' surges would be handy.
I get your point, but I've always felt that luck went against us in that game. Collingwood had a nearly flawless opening quarter and we missed three or four sitters directly in front in the 4th (5 if you count Darling's drop).
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
