The Hall of Fame inductee and Hawthorn 300-gamer - who resides in NSW and was a NSW/ACT commissioner from 1998-2004 - says he has seen the development of the game in Australia's most populated state improve dramatically since his outstanding career ended.
With his son, Will, a Hawthorn scholarship holder who recently represented NSW/ACT in the NAB AFL under-18 championships, Langford has watched the game grow in the region and understands the challenges it faces.
"The really pleasing thing is the standard is really improving," the four-time premiership player told afl.com.au.
"The quality of kids coming through at under-10s, under-13s and under-15s is just getting physically better every year, although it's very hard to say in actual figures.
"The challenges are there – [we need] more facilities to play and better coaching.
"But more importantly, kids at high-school age, so many of them now play AFL and another sport. AFL is generally the second sport, so the challenge is getting kids to play AFL first, because that's going to bring so many other results."
Langford said NSW/ACT youngsters were generally good at winning the footy in a game but playing as a team was not always their main strengths.
"But it's certainly getting better and that's all you can ask for," he added.
Langford said the number of players from Sydney who had represented the New South Wales under-16s and 18s teams was "not necessarily going up", which was another challenge.
"We've still got a lot of strength in the Riverina and ACT, and while there is improvement in Sydney, it's just a case of raising the quality overall," he said.
Langford said the ACT remained a vital region for the AFL, but conceded there was room to grow in the nation's capital.
"ACT probably hasn't been delivering as much as we'd like in these areas – crowds and TV hasn't been great, so there is room for improvement," he said.
"But it's a very important region for the whole football industry."
Langford said Will gained plenty from playing in the victorious NSW/ACT division two team.
"The opportunity for them to have intensive periods of AFL training, preparation, planning, coaching and playing doesn't happen often in their year," he said.
"Some of those clubs would be lucky to train once a week, so it's good to have blocks of four days here and seven days there as part of the championships."
"He got a lot out of it and came back very tired and in need of a bit of rest, but he was very happy and it was great for NSW/ACT to win division two and a great credit to coach Danny Stevens."
