Player Watch Ned Long

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Jelly Bean said:
The big test will be v Carlton. Do we trust him enough to send him to Cripps. We didn't last year when Cripps tore us up, despite Long being the most close physical peer to Cripps from our side.

If Long makes it, he is going to need to be making in it an inside mid, defensive type role (to play to his strengths of physical size, tackling, dishing out), and if we don't trust him against the best in the business, then I'm not sure what future he has.
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Bit harsh to say that if he can’t go head to head with one of the most unstoppable players in the league he doesn’t have a future 😂

Carlton fans, as grim as they would be right now, would love the idea. Cripps is a monster. It’s just that these past couple of weeks he’s had no one to dish it to. Let’s hope that continues for two more weeks
 
Jelly Bean said:
The big test will be v Carlton. Do we trust him enough to send him to Cripps. We didn't last year when Cripps tore us up, despite Long being the most close physical peer to Cripps from our side.

If Long makes it, he is going to need to be making in it an inside mid, defensive type role (to play to his strengths of physical size, tackling, dishing out), and if we don't trust him against the best in the business, then I'm not sure what future he has.
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I'm not seeing his role as defensive at all. He appears to be very pro active to me. Ned knows how to find the ball in close and dish it off.
 

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manicpie said:
I'm not seeing his role as defensive at all. He appears to be very pro active to me. Ned knows how to find the ball in close and dish it off.
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I agree. He's not sitting on a man tracking him. He's crashing in at the footy.
 
sr36 said:
I agree. He's not sitting on a man tracking him. He's crashing in at the footy.
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Yeah, I don't mean 'shut down'. But he is a player who either needs to win the contest or stop the opponent from winning it (i.e. force a stoppage). He had 9 tackles last week - that is part of his role. He will never be the inside playmaker that ND or JdG are.
 
Jelly Bean said:
Yeah, I don't mean 'shut down'. But he is a player who either needs to win the contest or stop the opponent from winning it (i.e. force a stoppage). He had 9 tackles last week - that is part of his role. He will never be the inside playmaker that ND or JdG are.
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He's see ball, get ball or man with ball. I'd be interested in how he'll go if they give him a defensive job on someone like Cripps - I wouldn't be confident that he could track him without going into a purely negator role who doesn't touch it at all, which is fine if he could really shut down Cripps, but I don't think that's likely.
 
sr36 said:
He's see ball, get ball or man with ball. I'd be interested in how he'll go if they give him a defensive job on someone like Cripps - I wouldn't be confident that he could track him without going into a purely negator role who doesn't touch it at all, which is fine if he could really shut down Cripps, but I don't think that's likely.
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Won’t work I agree. He needs to make sure he tackles Cripps when they’re opposed in close and make them stick but he has to win his own ball.
Cripps is too good a footballer to be negated all day so he’ll have to hurt him going the other way a bit.
 
I'll be honest and admit that I didn't really rate him coming off last year, where he looked more than a step or two off the pace in limited game time.

He still looks like a bit of a straight-line plodder athletically and his decision making can be similarly treacle-like at times, but he has come on in leaps and bounds in the off season and clearly deserves his spot in the 22 now.

He certainly has the upper body strength to match it with the big boys in the middle, if we can get him to build up a bit more power and agility in his running then he will become a very useful piece of the puzzle for this and future years.
 
partypie said:
I'll be honest and admit that I didn't really rate him coming off last year, where he looked more than a step or two off the pace in limited game time.

He still looks like a bit of a straight-line plodder athletically and his decision making can be similarly treacle-like at times, but he has come on in leaps and bounds in the off season and clearly deserves his spot in the 22 now.

He certainly has the upper body strength to match it with the big boys in the middle, if we can get him to build up a bit more power and agility in his running then he will become a very useful piece of the puzzle for this and future years.
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Model his game on someone like Josh Kennedy (ex Swan).
Early days he wasn’t the most skilful, thou through sheer persistence cultivated quite a career.
 
One other little thing I’ve noted with Ned the last two weeks - he’s got this little knack of sticking a hand out to get a touch on an opposition handball, knock a ball loose from an opponents grip - or grub a ball of the ground to advantage (like the goal he set up for McStay).

Those little things may go unnoticed in the stat sheet - but for a guy who’s job it is to disrupt the opposition mids, and keep the ball moving and out in space to our better/more skillful mids, that’s a really important little footy-nous trait to have. I hope keeps honing it and having the confidence to trust his game instincts and continue to improve!
 

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Finnishpie said:
That was either a magnificent semi-accident or one out of the bag. If we watch video of his last 100 kicks it's pretty clear it's his weakness. Which is why his first instinct is to handball, even when in space.
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In the VFL last year, he was a a pretty good kick when he had time - but needs longer than mids usually get in the AFL.
 
He's developed a nice little partnership with Naicos this past couple of weeks. Whenever Ned manages to absorb a tackle, clear a path and get the arms free, Nick knows exactly where to be for the handball receive.

It's happened about half a dozen times where Ned manages to break the tackle and Nick is off to the races. Really great synergy. (Ned) Long may it continue.
 
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Jen2310 said:
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Definitely one of the unexpected early season highlights.

Loving the Nick & Ned show. As Lenny notes above, the synergy between these two, including the lighting hand passes and getting the ball out to Nick in the clear, has happened too many times in the first three games to be, well, opportunistic dumb luck.

We have something here.
 
Vicky Park said:
Definitely one of the unexpected early season highlights.

Loving the Nick & Ned show. As Lenny notes above, the synergy between these two, including the lighting hand passes and getting the ball out to Nick in the clear, has happened too many times in the first three games to be, well, opportunistic dumb luck.

We have something here.
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Hard to believe Ned is younger than Nick. Man child

Glad the coaches changed their mind on delisting Ned last year
 
I am happily joining the "was wrong about Ned" queue. He has covered well for Mitchell's absence.

Excellent synergy with Nick.

Ned's grunt and strength combine well with Nick's silk and pace.
 
jathanas said:
I am happily joining the "was wrong about Ned" queue. He has covered well for Mitchell's absence.
Excellent synergy with Nick.
Ned's grunt and strength combine well with Nick's silk and pace.
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Not sure where the queue starts and ends but it's a pretty long queue
 
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jathanas said:
I am happily joining the "was wrong about Ned" queue. He has covered well for Mitchell's absence.

Excellent synergy with Nick.

Ned's grunt and strength combine well with Nick's silk and pace.
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I understand the sentiment. Ned played a cracking game against Port. He played with considerable grunt and energy and seems much quicker this year. I thought he was diabolically slow last year, this year, while nobody's idea of a speed demon, his pace seems ok. But I just have to point out that against The Bulldogs, while he did some really good things (9 tackles, lovely pass to Bobby, lovely dish off to Nick), he only got 13 possessions and was credited with no clearances. Thats just not enough for a bloke playing either as an inside mid or high half forward.

So for me the congratulations are a bit premature. He has definitely improved (I'd have delisted him last year) , we definitely need a player of his type but at the moment his 24 disposal game against Port is the outlier, and we need it to be the norm - I want to give him every opportunity but he isnt there yet..
 
Mark W said:
I understand the sentiment. Ned played a cracking game against Port. He played with considerable grunt and energy and seems much quicker this year. I thought he was diabolically slow last year, this year, while nobody's idea of a speed demon, his pace seems ok. But I just have to point out that against The Bulldogs, while he did some really good things (9 tackles, lovely pass to Bobby, lovely dish off to Nick), he only got 13 possessions and was credited with no clearances. Thats just not enough for a bloke playing either as an inside mid or high half forward.

So for me the congratulations are a bit premature. He has definitely improved (I'd have delisted him last year) , we definitely need a player of his type but at the moment his 24 disposal game against Port is the outlier, and we need it to be the norm - I want to give him every opportunity but he isnt there yet..
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Understand the reservation. He's not there... yet. Needs to deliver on a consistent basis. Case in point, McGough. :)

I doubted that Ned had it in him to play like that, even just a solitary game at that level. He proved me wrong.

Won't hurt his self-belief either.

Onwards and upwards.
 

Player Watch Ned Long

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