Fortunately for NSW/ACT Rams defender Will Langford, it’s working out just fine.
Langford – the son of four-time All-Australian defender Chris, who won four premierships in a 303-game career with the Hawks – was among the Rams’ best players in their eight-point win against Northern Territory at ANZ Stadium on Saturday in the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships.
He said the victory was the perfect tonic after NSW/ACT lost to Vic Metro by more than 100 points in its last outing.
“After Vic Metro, we were pretty pumped to come out and make a statement,” he said.
“But in the first half and throughout the second half, we weren’t as hard at the footy as we would have liked to be, considering we’re from NSW. That’s our game – we like being hard at it.
“However, to come up with the points is what it’s all about and it sets us up for the carnival down in Melbourne.”
Langford is one of the Rams’ bottom-aged players this year and he won’t be eligible for the draft until 2010.
But if he proves good enough to warrant selection, he’ll end up at the same club as his dad after Hawthorn signed him as a NSW/ACT scholarship player.
Langford said his father had been a great supporter of all his sporting endeavours.
“He’ll give me advice but he doesn’t want to push me. He lets me make my own decisions and I just follow my interests,” he said.
“He gives me a fair bit of freedom, which is really good. I appreciate it.”
NSW/ACT coach Danny Stevens said despite Langford’s undoubted talent, he still had considerable scope for improvement in the next 18 months.
“He’s coming from a long way back. He’s got a rugby background so he hasn’t played much AFL but certainly over the next couple of years, we’ll see huge development in Will,” he said.
“He’s just a competitor, just like his dad was. He’s got some very similar attributes, exactly the same as his dad. He dead-set has a crack and that’s what we’re asking of him.”
While the dream of playing AFL football might seem a long way off for a youngster in Sydney, Langford said the experiences of other NSW/ACT scholarship holders were heartening.
“Seeing Taylor Walker with the Adelaide Crows, who was one of the scholarship boys – he’s reaping the rewards of the program,” he said.
“It’s a really exciting prospect to think that if I keep developing and working hard, in a few years I could be at an AFL club and pushing for selection in a first-grade side.”
