ED LANGDON'S season looked over when he injured hisfinger at the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships, which left himrecuperating for three months.
But the mediumforward/midfielder trained hard, kept up his fitness and made a surpriseappearance in the Sandringham Dragons' preliminary final defeat.
Langdon,the younger brother of Collingwood's Tom, was understandably rusty butgathered 18 disposals and eight handball receives to show his run.
Itwas only his third TAC Cup game in two seasons, meaning recruiters willneed to spend some time assessing his form for school side MelbourneGrammar.
Langdonhas some elite speed and endurance, which makes his mix a potent one.At last month's combine, he finished in the top-10 for the beep test(level 15.3), the 20-metre sprint (2.92 seconds) and the repeat sprinttest (24.06 seconds).
In the game he sufferedhis finger injury, Langdon kicked four goals to help Vic Metro to a winover South Australia and it was probably the best game of his season,showing the spark and excitement he can bring to a forward set-up.
Langdondoesn't have huge polish by foot but it's been a focus for him at theSandringham Dragons during the year. His improvement in that area fromthe start of the season to when he was injured was obvious.
Themain conundrum for recruiters is the fact Langdon has played so littletop-level underage football. This season he managed just two TAC Cupgames and three national championship games.
He'sthe size and mould of Hawthorn medium forward Luke Breust. Although hedoesn't have the same deadeye approach near goal, Langdon's runningcapacity should see him move into the midfield more permanently, and hehas shown a knack for a goal.
Langdon's lack of footy means he is probably somewhere in the third or fourth round of the draft.
Langdoncan make things happen around the ball in different ways: he's quick,active and he throws himself at the ball. Brings some energy to theforward line.
