Ben Long

[SaintPav]

What's his best position?

[The Fireman]

I've thought him to be in the 22 longer than some on here.

He is as hard as a nut and you could tell early that he had skills that would only improve.

Now we need the team to be as tough as him ..then onwards and upwards.

[ace]

What's his best position?

Standing over an opponent who has just been flattened.

[SaintPav]

What's his best position?

Standing over an opponent who has just been flattened.

Lol

[sks023]

A real chance to finish top ten in BF

[Impatient Sainter]

Its amazing how well ex Darwin players play in wet conditions. They are so used to the conditions playing in the wet season, where even on dry days the sweat and humidity makes the ball like a cake of soap. Long had an extraordinary composed game yesterday, as did Coffield after watching the replay.

[Winmore]

Watched game again last night, Long was very Important for us on Sunday.

[Scollop]

Watched game again last night, Long was very Important for us on Sunday.

I think we are lucky to have Longy in that backline.

Howard and Wilkie are very good defenders and Dougal can sometimes set us up from defense but I think the "Çoff'' and Long are the best distributors

[ace]

Ben TOO Long.
55 years.

[Winmore]

Certainly not the best Long to ever play the game, but has a crack, unlike Hill and Billings who often flounce around the periphery waiting to be the beneficiaries of others’ hard work.

Different strokes for different folks mate Hill & Billings are just as valuable. Obviously Long plays the way he does & IMO we need that aggression & run but too be fair Billings especially was pretty bloody good today & Hill yeah was ok but you play to your strengths & you need that for team balance IMO

I agree Billing’s did some good hard stuff today. It is not up to everyone to be the hard guy in a team but I am worried one day Hill may have to tackle a Bontempelli or a Dusty or a Petracca to save a Final for the team. Can’t see us winning that one.

[bangaulegend]

Fair call it's definitely not one of Hills strength but his run & carry, endurance & disposal is why we recruited him because we don't have anyone on our list that has that quality ATM IMO but I do see your point

[jackal]

Certainly not the best Long to ever play the game, but has a crack, unlike Hill and Billings who often flounce around the periphery waiting to be the beneficiaries of others’ hard work.

Different strokes for different folks mate Hill & Billings are just as valuable. Obviously Long plays the way he does & IMO we need that aggression & run but too be fair Billings especially was pretty bloody good today & Hill yeah was ok but you play to your strengths & you need that for team balance IMO

I agree Billing’s did some good hard stuff today. It is not up to everyone to be the hard guy in a team but I am worried one day Hill may have to tackle a Bontempelli or a Dusty or a Petracca to save a Final for the team. Can’t see us winning that one.

But from memory the Hawks 'managed' to win a few Grandy's with a younger Hill in the team. Was it three?? I just don't see the logic.

[Scollop]

Matt Rowell might be the best young player in the AFL but he's not contributing on the field if he's injured all the time

Fair enough that he's an inside mid and he has more chance of collision injuries than other players, but the point I'm trying to make is that I'd prefer Hill squib a couple of contests and stay out on the park, rather than risk injury by trying to play differently to how he's played all his life.

I'm sure if the Saints are in a final and it's late in the game that Hilly will finally put his body and his head over the footy

[B.M]

Billings is far from soft

Skilful doesn’t always equal soft.

[Lennylegs]

Long will be a regular in our side. despite the thoughts of some ....individuals on here.

put your hands up...individuals.

I’m something of a supporter of Long and thought he was sensational tonight. Featured in my votes.

What’s interesting about him is you can really see the difference between when he’s under pressure and when he has support around him. From about half way through the 3/4, he started making the type of mistakes that ppl criticise him for and doing it quite a bit... but in his defence, I think it’s because his work rate didn’t drop off and he kept attacking contests whilst the supports dropped off.

He has this incredible way of attacking the contest whilst trying to manipulate the outcome so as to favour no matter the outcome. If goes up for a mark and punches it towards teams, goes for a tackle and tries to knock the ball free, goes into the contest and taps the ball towards a team mate

Super impressed

Yep, totally agree. I'm actually staggered that some people on here wouldn't see Long's last year as a serious progression in the right direction. Still needs to learn a bit more composure with the footy. And he's probably going to have to curtail his aggression at the man.

But he's going to be integral to our backline for years to come. Thought he really stepped up against the giants last week in what was a pretty inexperienced back 6 for us.

The negativity on here is a bit strange at times. Lot of people like to look at a player's deficiencies rather than his strengths. And Ben's got plenty of strengths. Ratts can see that. That's why I think he's such a promising coach.

Go Saints

[The Billings Method]

His best position is at Sandringham. After tonight.

[Otiman]

His best position is at Sandringham. After tonight.

Disagree, was a good player in a bad team. DId his bit.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater over a single free against (the high contact).

[Winmore]

His best position is at Sandringham. After tonight.

It’s an indication of how woeful we were tonight that Long was not our worst. He did some stupid stuff but I still prefer him to Old Yeller.

[Scollop]

His best position is at Sandringham. After tonight.

Disagree, was a good player in a bad team. DId his bit.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater over a single free against (the high contact).

Agreed. Long isn’t THE reason we lost.

TBillingsM is just trying to defend his op because he doesn’t rate Ben

We know Ratts has annointed the young guns like Long to push this club forward to becoming a top 4 side. As a young player his effort tonight and most of his decision making was good.

Bet you he doesn’t play for Sandy and bet you TBillingsM doesn’t come back to this thread when Ben is a good contributor in our wins

[Peanut Farm]

Should never have got rid of Savage, for mine a much better player than Long, stats 100% prove that.

[bangaulegend]

Wasn't great tonight but f--k he was hardly our worst . I will just name a few Sinclair, Lonie, Butler ,Battle,Higgins, & I could go on but I think you get my drift

[Yorkeys]

There is a question mark growing over his net effectiveness/value. Stacks of courage, skills and endeavour, but all that energy and movement results in what net outcome for the side.

[Teflon]

I must’ve watched a different game tonight??
I thought there were many worse than Long tonight - at least when he went near the footy we got a contest and many time he won the ball.....sorry don’t think Long is our issue.
Brad Hill was an embarrassment tonight - I can even forgive that he totally lacks courage to put his body in against an opponent but ONLY if he does what’s he’s 800 large to do hit a damn target........tonight was easily one of our worst turnover men
Buttler invisible, Sinclair dumb at times , Higgins ordinary, Battle disappointing, Lonie??, Gresham at times just blazes , Membrey just dumb play on...
There were times tonight they just needed to compose themselves but they wanted to go fast and just ran themselves into trouble??? Why

[Scollop]

I must’ve watched a different game tonight??
I thought there were many worse than Long tonight - at least when he went near the footy we got a contest and many time he won the ball.....sorry don’t think Long is our issue.
Brad Hill was an embarrassment tonight - I can even forgive that he totally lacks courage to put his body in against an opponent but ONLY if he does what’s he’s 800 large to do hit a damn target........tonight was easily one of our worst turnover men
Buttler invisible, Sinclair dumb at times , Higgins ordinary, Battle disappointing, Lonie??, Gresham at times just blazes , Membrey just dumb play on...
There were times tonight they just needed to compose themselves but they wanted to go fast and just ran themselves into trouble??? Why

Our boys must have drunk a fair bit it of that disgusting Sydney tap water while they soaked their sore muscles in those Sydney baths

Spot on about Hill. Talk about losing trust in someone. I wouldn’t have passed it to him in the second half even if that was the message from Ratts. Why would you listen to your coach after seeing Hill butcher the ball time and time again?

I checked out the ‘effective disposals’ stat between Long and Hill. Ben had 9 effective and Brad had 11. Brad had 10 more total disposals. The only problem was that Brad’s extra touches were ineffective disposals (or clangers) that went straight to the opposition.