Ben Long. Furious

[bigcarl]

I’ll tell you straight

Clark is NOT as fit as he could or should be

He doesn’t finish even close to the top half of the runner at the club in time trials.

He is a great player, courageous and skilful

But a good runner, he is NOT!!!

He doesn’t need to hit the gym - he needs to hit the pavement

He could be an elite player imo if he was (Sinclair or Ross fit)
I reckon he could reach Steele Sidebottom levels - but in current shape he’s just handy and plays his best in the easiest position on the ground

Good post.

I agree Hunter’s running capacity is nowhere near elite.

Sinclair was always a decent runner who is now very good, Ross achieved it through hard work & volume and it probably took 5-6 pre-seasons to build and Sidebottom always had elite endurance.

Hunter is more like Ross that he needs to get the work into his legs. The issue is we don’t know his situation in regard to groins, calves, hammys and how his body copes with load. He may well be a slower build.

Pretty sure the club fitness and conditioning staff would be all over this.

Yes, you’d think so.

On tanks and endurance I’m guessing it’s partly determined by genetics. I’d be interested to know much you can improve it by pure hard work. A fair bit I would surmise.

[WellardSaint]

Remember a guy called Luke Ball?
He and other players struggled with osteitis pubis.
It was a popular affliction at the time.
How about we let fitness staff do what they're paid to do.

All of you 'experts', I wonder how many of you are 40kgs overweight and haven't actually run since high school.

Fitness staff have studied fitness a bit more than all of you.
Give it away

[D.B.Cooper]

Remember a guy called Luke Ball?
He and other players struggled with osteitis pubis.
It was a popular affliction at the time.
How about we let fitness staff do what they're paid to do.

All of you 'experts', I wonder how many of you are 40kgs overweight and haven't actually run since high school.

Fitness staff have studied fitness a bit more than all of you.
Give it away

1. Its a football forum which is about Saints supporters voicing their opinion
2. You have no idea of each persons background in athletics, sports injury management etc
3. If the fitness staff & the coach at the time had a clue, Luke Ball wouldn't have been smashed when he was injured and would have retained the moderate pace he had when he arrived at the saints
4. What is your opinion on Clark's running capacity in AFL context?

[samuraisaint]

I saw Longy really do his block today right in front of us when his lead wasn't honoured.
The forward missed of course.

Love Longy - reckon he is a natural footballer who works hard!

A ripper!!

Speaking about doing his block...did you see the incident with CJ from Hawthorn who was trying to ruffle Long's feathers?

Long took the hit and took the jumper punches without retaliating. Good sign of maturity for the young fella Benny

Yes, I did - and even though it was a long way away from where we were sitting, I called out a warning to CJ that Long is one bloke who you don't want to p1ss off.

[avid]

Long was furious with King a few times today.
Reckon he thinks Max was not honouring leads

Same thing happened in the last quarter with Mason Wood. Hawks had a turnover in the middle and we had a couple of players free running towards or goals. Usually it's Higgins or Butler running hard towards goal but this time it was Long

Wood had the footy on the wing just forward of centre and he had a choice of Long running directly towards the goal (dead in front) about 35 m out or he could hit up King (who was running towards the boundary but a lot further out from goal).

King was a bit closer towards Wood, so it was the easier of the two kicks but the wrong option if you wanted to maximise our chances for a team goal. Long gets burned and Wood hit up King who had a difficult shot from 50-55 metres out. King missed. I think that brought Kings tally 'to 2-5 for the afternoon

It was a very blatant mistake by Wood -- he just needed to drop it between Long and the goal square.

King was then lining up from 50+ m out, and Long did a fantastic lead across the goal front and into the empty pocket.
King ignored him. Long really was furious, and angrily punched his fist into his hand.
Then Membrey made a searing lead from the goal square and into empty territory straight in front of King.
King saw it and ignored it. Membrey was screaming at him by the end.
King kick the behind.

I couldn't help feel an atmosphere of mass discord descend on the ground.

This should really be in a King thread.
I really love Max King, but this is stuff they all have to clear up together before he'll be the truly destructive force he is capable of being.

[saynta]

I saw Longy really do his block today right in front of us when his lead wasn't honoured.
The forward missed of course.

Love Longy - reckon he is a natural footballer who works hard!

A ripper!!

Speaking about doing his block...did you see the incident with CJ from Hawthorn who was trying to ruffle Long's feathers?

Long took the hit and took the jumper punches without retaliating. Good sign of maturity for the young fella Benny

Yes, I did - and even though it was a long way away from where we were sitting, I called out a warning to CJ that Long is one bloke who you don't want to p1ss off.

[Templar]

I'm wondering if Long felt he had the green light to be "vocal" to his team mates after the Ratten serve that was recently made public where he calls
on the team to demand, insist, better of each other?

At the same time I hope Long doesn't get chastened or even dropped for being so demonstrative. That would be some seriously mixed messaging.

Not sure if I liked either display being so public, the Behind the Scenes video or Longy doing his nut, but hopefully it all acts as triggers for the teamwork we need to bring for these last three rounds.

So rather than be telling Long to cool it Ratts ought to be pushing for more of it. At least to continue his narrative.

But it will only work if that spirit gets the endorsement of the leadership group and other influential characters in the team.

[Templar]

I dunno. Need some cathartic trigger before Saturday

Now I am thinking lock all of the players into the danny frawley centre with gloves and head gear on in a last man standing royal rumble type scenario.

That should sort them out.

[Scollop]

I'm wondering if Long felt he had the green light to be "vocal" to his team mates after the Ratten serve that was recently made public where he calls
on the team to demand, insist, better of each other?

At the same time I hope Long doesn't get chastened or even dropped for being so demonstrative. That would be some seriously mixed messaging.

Not sure if I liked either display being so public, the Behind the Scenes video or Longy doing his nut, but hopefully it all acts as triggers for the teamwork we need to bring for these last three rounds.

So rather than be telling Long to cool it Ratts ought to be pushing for more of it. At least to continue his narrative.

But it will only work if that spirit gets the endorsement of the leadership group and other influential characters in the team.

When you see Geelong players running from one end of the ground to the other for the sole purpose of telling their team mates to 'get their act together' then I reckon that is a model we should be following

The boys on FoxFoooty's On The Couch showed vision of Tom Hawkins sprinting from the forward line to go down to full back and he was demonstrative with Tom Stewart.

Hopefully there'll be a write about the Hawkins feedback sting to Stewart on Fox Sports website for those who don't have access to Foxtel or Kayo

[Scollop]

Long was furious with King a few times today.
Reckon he thinks Max was not honouring leads

Same thing happened in the last quarter with Mason Wood. Hawks had a turnover in the middle and we had a couple of players free running towards or goals. Usually it's Higgins or Butler running hard towards goal but this time it was Long

Wood had the footy on the wing just forward of centre and he had a choice of Long running directly towards the goal (dead in front) about 35 m out or he could hit up King (who was running towards the boundary but a lot further out from goal).

King was a bit closer towards Wood, so it was the easier of the two kicks but the wrong option if you wanted to maximise our chances for a team goal. Long gets burned and Wood hit up King who had a difficult shot from 50-55 metres out. King missed. I think that brought Kings tally 'to 2-5 for the afternoon

It was a very blatant mistake by Wood -- he just needed to drop it between Long and the goal square.

King was then lining up from 50+ m out, and Long did a fantastic lead across the goal front and into the empty pocket.
King ignored him. Long really was furious, and angrily punched his fist into his hand.
Then Membrey made a searing lead from the goal square and into empty territory straight in front of King.
King saw it and ignored it. Membrey was screaming at him by the end.
King kick the behind.

I couldn't help feel an atmosphere of mass discord descend on the ground.

This should really be in a King thread.
I really love Max King, but this is stuff they all have to clear up together before he'll be the truly destructive force he is capable of being.

The other Long 'offensive' run which was not honoured by Mitch Owens in the last quarter. Mitch could have played on quickly and given it off to Ben Long, who again worked hard to provide an opportunity for an easier avenue to goal. Owens ignored Long who was running free of his opponent and there was no one between Long and the goals.

This was when we were still comfortably in front with about 8-9 minutes left on the clock and we were 4 goals up or maybe even 5 goals up. What should have been a comfortable victory, turned out to be a fight to stop the Hawks momentum after Mitch marked and went back thinking "I've got this". He missed and that gave Hawthorn a sniff

Sometimes it's ok to make mistakes. Sometimes it takes a few games like this one for players to understand the importance of being selfless.

[Scollop]

14 possessions 0 goals
That ok offensively

9 tackles
Very good defensively

Overall - good game

Long's offensive 'effort' was top class. He ran hard and provided his team mates opportunities for team goals. His team mates were more interested in individual glory

It's easy to ignore someone's work rate when the scoreboard says only 1 goal or no goals. Remember a game we lost last year where Missy only kicked 1 goal and he got coaches votes?

Good teams and connected teams wins big games.

I've responded because I think he plays a team brand of footy. Just like you have defended guys like Billings, I will continue to defend Benny

Long reads the play well and he puts himself in positions to help his team. He usually lifts and inspires the whole team with his limited opportunities and set shots

[saynta]

I'm wondering if Long felt he had the green light to be "vocal" to his team mates after the Ratten serve that was recently made public where he calls
on the team to demand, insist, better of each other?

At the same time I hope Long doesn't get chastened or even dropped for being so demonstrative. That would be some seriously mixed messaging.

Not sure if I liked either display being so public, the Behind the Scenes video or Longy doing his nut, but hopefully it all acts as triggers for the teamwork we need to bring for these last three rounds.

So rather than be telling Long to cool it Ratts ought to be pushing for more of it. At least to continue his narrative.

But it will only work if that spirit gets the endorsement of the leadership group and other influential characters in the team.

When you see Geelong players running from one end of the ground to the other for the sole purpose of telling their team mates to 'get their act together' then I reckon that is a model we should be following

The boys on FoxFoooty's On The Couch showed vision of Tom Hawkins sprinting from the forward line to go down to full back and he was demonstrative with Tom Stewart.

Hopefully there'll be a write about the Hawkins feedback sting to Stewart on Fox Sports website for those who don't have access to Foxtel or Kayo

GAo out of my way to watch Hawkins do anything? No thanks.