CHANGES 2009: PART TWO

Ronald Dale Barassi, Junior, the greatest Demon of them all, was born in the central Victorian town of Castlemaine on 27 February 1936, the son of a Melbourne player who later gave his life for his country at Tobruk in 1941 during World War II.

At the time of the birth another Demon great, "The Red Fox" - Norm Smith, was a team mate of Barassi's father and in the process of establishing himself as a key forward under the coaching of Frank "Checker" Hughes. Smith and his brother Len had been approached by Hughes and club secretary Percy Page to join the club in 1933. He made his senior debut in the red and the blue in 1935 wearing the number 4 jumper.

Hughes and Page had recently crossed over from Richmond to Melbourne and they set about changing the club's image from the innocuous Fuschias to the feared Demons. A change of image for a club that was down on its haunches was seen by them as the best way forward for improvement.

Smith soon found himself in the vanguard of this push for improvement. The club gathered momentum later in the decade and Smith went on to have a glorious career as a member of four premiership teams (1939, 1940, 1941 and 1948).

After a brief time away from the club, Smith returned to gained a reputation as a clever and cunning coach – The Red Fox. Under his guidance, the Demons tasted premiership glory six times in the space of a decade (1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960 and 1964). Barassi Junior was with him all the way as a player and captained the club in the last two flag winning years.

As a teenager, young Barassi was determined to follow in his father's footsteps at the club. Smith and his wife took him under their wings after his mother moved to Tasmania and they gave him accommodation in his backyard bungalow. Melbourne had already lobbied the VFL to introduce a father/son rule to enable Ron to play for his father's club and in 1952, he was picked up from Preston Scouts as the second player recruited under the rule.

By 1953, Ron Junior played his first senior game. At the age of 20 he was a premiership player, a feat he repeated five more times before he turned 30. He then made a shock move to Carlton and coached the Blues to two flags before he moved on to North Melbourne where he helped them win their first two premierships. There was a return to his spiritual home for a barren coaching stint in terms of finals success but he did help pave the foundation for a more productive era (albeit without the much coveted premiership flag) that followed his term as coach.

It was fitting therefore, that three quarters of a century after the Red Fox was recruited to the club, his protégé handed over the number four jumper to Jack Watts, one of the newest Demons and a player anointed to help carry the Melbourne Football Club into at least the next decade of what will hopefully be a period of sustained success. The symbolism of the handing over of the guernsey cannot be lost on any student of the club's great history and Watts himself alluded to it during his first interview as a Demon on SEN radio immediately after the AFL National Draft Meeting on Saturday 29 November 2008.

The recruitment of this young man and others who joined him at the club is part of a new era for Melbourne, a period of immense change in many of the facets of the club and particularly in its playing list. The change has been taking place for a little while now, but like all change, it takes time to be felt. When Barassi handed the number four however, one could sense it was a moment for the club's history books.

Watts is clearly no ordinary footballer. Even the calling of his name at the draft meeting had its drama -

Andrew Demetriou: Round One. Selection One. Melbourne.

Barry Prendergast: Player two zero, ... hang on, ... two zero eight double six zero. Jack Watts. Sandringham Dragons.

Prendergast may have been suffering from nerves. After all, it was his first call as the head of the club's recruiting team but there were no nerves from Jack Watts. He handled his first interview as a Demon with all the aplomb of a veteran. According to SEN’s Andrew Maher he had even asked the Melbourne people if they wanted him to make mention of the club’s need for a major sponsor if that would help. This is how the interview with SEN’s Matty Thompson went -

Matty Thompson: Well Jack Watts from the Dees. Pick number one. How about that?

Jack Watts: Yes, sensational. The Dees are such a proud club with such a great history and with the new board and I think they're trying to bring that heritage back. It's such an exciting time.

Matty Thompson: It’s a massive honour isn't it to be the number one pick. Do you look back at previous number one draft picks and see even how successful they’ve been early in their careers. It must just be kind of inspirational.

Jack Watts: Yes, absolutely. They're amazing players and you grow up just absolutely idolising them and now it's become a reality for me it's just mind blowing so I'll just get in there and start working hard and do my best at the club.

Matty Thompson: When were you sure in your mind that you were going to Melbourne?

Jack Watts: It wasn't until last night when a few guys from the Dees came around informed me at about 6 o'clock last night that they were going to take me so it’s been a long wait but it's just sensational now.

Matty Thompson: What were you having for dinner?

Jack Watts: We had a family dinner, we got some Chinese so I got absolutely spoiled last night.

Matty Thompson: Did you shout the Melbourne guys when they came in.

Jack Watts: No, no, no.

Matty Thompson: So they didn't get a feed?

Jack Watts: No that was afterwards.

Matty Thompson: How keen are you to play in year one?

Jack Watts: Look, you can't say. I'm still 17, I'm a young kid and I've got a lot of learning to do in the game. I'm just coming off basketball and there's plenty of learning and improvement left in me so I’ll just be trying to get my body right next year and we'll go from there.

Matty Thompson: Jack. Good luck and thanks for your time on SEN. Number one and that goes down in history.

Jack Watts: Thanks a lot

And so Jack Watts the 196cm, 85 kg tall mobile forward from Brighton Grammar enters this historic club. The same cleverness he exhibited in that interview can be seen in the style of his play. He has excellent skills, can read the play well, has great speed and agility for any player let alone one of his size. He leads well, marks strongly in packs, is a lovely long right foot kick of the football and looks equally at home in a key position or in the midfield. And he kicks the clutch goals as well, as he demonstrated so clearly in the first game of the Under 18 national Championships when he kicked the winning goal on the siren.

Even though Jack Watts might not play much football in 2009 due to final year secondary school studies, the 17 year old is set to make an impact on the oldest football club in the country. He has received the baton from the very best - our time is coming.

With thanks to Alpha 33 for transcribing the SEN interview mentioned in the article.

The Oracle will complete this series with the full wrap up of changes at the club as a result of the trade and drafting period in the lead up to season 2009.