Self-belief helped Lang play again

THERE are many AFL players who would struggle to get their head around the idea they could recover from a broken fibula in June in time to play finals.

Darcy Lang (pictured) is not one of those players. The 21-year-old fractured his leg against Fremantle in Round 14 and missed the next six weeks working his backside off in the recovery process.

He then played three games in the VFL but with the Cats flying at the end of the home-and-away season it seemed increasingly unlikely he would earn a recall.

As the VFL season came to an end, Lang continued to push hard at training and despite the odds being stacked against him, never gave up hope that there was still a meaningful role for him to play in September.

“It’s just a lot of self-belief and that’s pretty much it, you’ve just got to have that belief in yourself to play,” Lang said.

“They (the coaches) sort of just say to keep engaged. It’s very disappointing when you miss out on getting picked but you can’t drop your bundle because things do happen and when you get your chance you’ve got to take it with both hands.”

Lang certainly took his chance against Sydney on Friday night.

A week after Geelong was touched up by Richmond, Lang was among his team’s best players on a night where there were few passengers.