HAWTHORN youngster Will Langford says he would love the opportunity to play on fellow father-son selection Gary Ablett on Saturday night.
Langford, 21, is playing as the Hawks' run-with player so far this season and is likely to stand alongside the AFL's best player at some stage when his side meets the Suns.
It would be an ironic twist for Langford whose father Chris was asked to quell the influence of Gary Ablett Senior in the 1989 Hawks-Cats Grand Final. While Ablett Junior famously defected to Gold Coast in 2010, Langford said it would be exciting to line up on the son of his father's old sparring partner.
"I suppose if I did match up on Gary that would be a nice twist of fate as one would say," Langford told Crocmedia's Sportsday.
"But whether it happens or not, I suppose Gary Junior is a terrific player and like I was saying, a young player learns so much from his teammates, but to be able to play on someone like him, if I had the opportunity, I'm sure would be a great learning experience.
"It's something that I would certainly thrive on and look forward to.
"So whether that happens or not, I'm not sure, there's a couple of days yet until we play so we'll see, but whether it's Gary or not - they've got a fairly strong midfield group up there – it will certainly be a learning curve."
Langford said he is relishing his tagging role but continuing to learn how to best play it.
"I was probably recruited as a defender, but they came to me at the start of last season and said, 'You know we think you have the attributes to be a good run-with player and develop as a midfielder'," Langford said.
"So I said, if that's what they saw in me, and that was how I could best contribute to the group and develop myself as a player I would jump at the opportunity."
Langford was thrown in the deep end in his first game last season when he lined up on Western Bulldogs champion Robert Murphy.
"I still remember quite vividly my first game last year, I played on Bob Murphy for a lot of the day down in Tasmania, so just seeing how hard he works when he runs, he really does run terrifically hard and so that's certainly the main difference for me," Langford said.
