William Langford is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played for the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawt ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL).

Early life

Will was born in Sydney to mother Eleanor and father

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), N ...

, Hawthorn Team of the Century backman. Chris had moved to Sydney late in his AFL career to pursue a career as an accountant, and it was there that his kids were raised. Will played his junior football fo
East Sydney Bulldogs
before progressing to UNSW-ES Bulldogs senior football in the

Sydney AFL AFL Sydney is an Australian rules football League, based in metropolitan Sydney, Australia. The AFL Sydney competition comprises 126 teams from 22 clubs which play across seven senior men's divisions, five women's divisions, a Master's Division ...

whilst his progress was monitored by AFL recruiters. Touted as a father-son prospect Langford was instead recruited to the AFL's Hawthorn Football Club as a part of the AFL’s now defunct

NSW ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Scholarship programme in the 2011 Rookie draft.

AFL career

Langford suffered

chronic fatigue syndrome Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or ME/CFS, is a complex, debilitating, long-term medical condition. The causes and mechanisms of the disease are not fully understood. Distinguishing core symptoms are ...

in his first year at the Hawks in 2011. After an impressive season in Box Hill in defence in 2012, he was shifted into the midfield and impressing early in the 2013 season, he was elevated to the senior list along with

John Ceglar Jonathon Ceglar (born 14 February 1991) is a former Australian rules football player who played for the Hawthorn Football Club and Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Ceglar was also listed with the Collingwood Footba ...

after Hawks players

Ryan Schoenmakers Ryan Schoenmakers (born 8 November 1990) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was selected with the last pick of the first round selection ...

and

Matt Suckling Matthew Suckling (born 25 July 1988) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club and Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL). Suckling is known as a player with precision kicking and link ...

were placed on the club's long term injury list. and played one senior game against the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

in round 17 at Launceston's

Aurora Stadium York Park is a sports ground in the Inveresk and York Park Precinct, Launceston, Australia. Holding 19,000 people – the largest capacity stadium in Tasmania, York Park is known commercially as University of Tasmania Stadium and was formerly ...

. Langford continued his solid form with Box Hill throughout the 2013 season, culminating in playing in the club's second VFL Premiership against Geelong.

Promotion to senior list

He was promoted to the main player list for 2014. Hawthorn used pick 71 in the 2013 AFL Draft. In 2014 Langford started the season in the seniors showing at times the VFL form from the previous year. He lost his spot mid year and returned to Box Hill and told to work on several parts of his game. Within a month he had returned the seniors and became one of Hawthorn's best reliable midfielders after shutting out captain

Joel Selwood Joel Anthony Selwood (born 26 May 1988) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was a quadruple premiership player, a six-time All-Australian, and a three-ti ...

in a round 22 clash and a best on ground performance in the Preliminary Final shutting down captain

Travis Boak Travis Boak (born 1 August 1988) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Boak List of Port Adelaide Football Club captains, captained the club from 2013 ...

and a dominating display in the 2014 AFL Grand Final where he kicked 3 goals and collected 21 disposals. The Hawks won by 63 points and he was listed as one of the best players. Langford enjoyed career-high kicking and marking figures in 2017 and his best since 2014 when he was the star of the finals series. He was one of the few bright lights early in the season when the Hawks were being trounced. His goalkicking became erratic missing what should have been easy set shots put his teammates under pressure. He played only six senior games in 2018, suffering a season ending hamstring injury. On 30 October 2018, Langford was delisted by Hawthorn and subsequently retired.

Statistics

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Honours and achievements

Team * AFL premiership player ():

* Minor premiership ():

* VFL premiership player ():

* Minor premiership ():

Family

He is the son of Hawthorn Team of the Century backman

Chris Langford Chris Langford (born 2 January 1963) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who has been an AFL Commissioner since 1999. Player Langford is best known for his 303-game career for the Hawthorn Football Club between 1983 and 1997. ...

, who represented the club in 303 games, including 4 premierships, and is currently a member of the

AFL Commission The AFL Commission is the official governing body of the Australian Football League Limited (AFL), its subsidiaries and controlled entities. Richard Goyder has been chairman since 4 April 2017, replacing Mike Fitzpatrick. It was formed in 198 ...

. Will's younger brother, Lachlan Langford, was rookied by the Hawks in the 2015 AFL rookie draft. It was the first time brothers had been on the list since

Shane Shane may refer to: People * Shane (actress) (born 1969), American pornographic actress * Shane (New Zealand singer) (born 1946) * iamnotshane (born 1995), formerly known as Shane, American singer * Shane (name) Shane is mainly a masculine g ...

and Justin Crawford in 1998. With Will's premiership in 2014, the Langfords became the second father/son premiership players at the club after

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

and Paul Hudson in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

and

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

respectively. His uncle, Tom Langford, was a prominent VFL player, mainly with Port Melbourne, from 2006-2017 before becoming a development coach with Richmond.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Langford, Will Living people 1992 births Australian rules footballers from New South Wales Box Hill Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club premiership players UNSW-Eastern Suburbs Bulldogs players People educated at Cranbrook School, Sydney VFL/AFL premiership players