Melbourne's current injury list at the start of the season is extremely worrying. I do not remember MFC having such a long, and serious imjury list BEFORE the season starts.

1. Jack Watts looks as though he is injury prone. Let's hope he is another Colin Sylvia (remember his OP in his first two season, but obviously now is fully recovered)
   
2. Max Gawn is listed on the MFC website as "indefinite" whatever that means. You start to wonder why we recruited him if he is that badly injured. I personally think he may develop into an elite talent, but only if he remains upright!
   
3. Sam Bleeze is also a concern. Is the injury he received last year in a school yard accident much more serious than is being admitted. I for one think it might be. If so, it should be revealed.
   Sometimes people on this site criticise the club unreasonably, but i believe questions should be asked about our recruiting, and medical staff about this current situation.
   
   Chill dude.
   Jack Watts is fine. He's on the light side and has never trained like this before in his life. It will take a while for his body to adjust. Looking at his build, he has the frame to put on some good muscle. Relax for a couple of years and see what he becomes.
   Max Gawn is coming back from an ACL. It takes time. It's generally considered to be a year-long recovery. Thankfully, the fact that he was injured dropped him down the draft order far enough that we could snap him up at way below market value.
   Sam Blease had a very bad break. The club has never denied that it was bad. However he is running sprints and has started kicking again. He says that the leg feels fine. We'll see him in the red and blue later this year.
   Remember that Grimes also had injury issues when he was drafted. Are you going to tell us that we should have avoided him too?
   People just need to relax and realise that it's still a couple of years before we need to worry about these issues. If we're still being crippled by injuries in the years when we should be making the top 8 then I'll worry.

On a plus side, I have heard from a mate who is a mfc player that Watts has not missed a kick in front of goal for the whole pre season. Apparently down at the club everyone is very impressed with his skills

haha couldn't have said it better myself

To all the dooms dayers please take a big deep breath and relax. This is straight from the horses mouth 'its a very slight quad and the club is taking the ultra cautious approach'. The guy is just itching to play.

I don't think it's uncommon to have back-related soft tissue injuries in the legs (ie. hamstrings etc).

Watts' back problem is nothing structural whatsoever. He has a minor sore which subsequently became infected. Mind you, it's rather amusing how he came about this wound.

His only genuine footy injury is the slight quad strain. The "back injury" won't have any effect on his football moving forward and wasn't footy related.

Watts' back problem is nothing structural whatsoever. He has a minor sore which subsequently became infected. Mind you, it's rather amusing how he came about this wound.

His only genuine footy injury is the slight quad strain. The "back injury" won't have any effect on his football moving forward and wasn't footy related.

How did it happen?

Naitanui was always going to give a much quicker return, everyone knows that. He was also going to be alot more 'marketable' in the short term due to his background and style of play. These are acknowledged facts.

However, Watts was identified as having the abilities to play the hardest position on the ground, CHF. He was also drafted as a skinny school kid. I remember the last time a tall skinny school kid was the no.1 pick, Josh Fraser. I also remember the pies playing him every single game in his first year in the ruck. His undeveloped body was smashed game after game and years down the track what's the result? He's now just a shadow of the potential he once had, a ruckman size player who realistically can only play on the Half Forward Flank. He's unable to play in the ruck or in a key position due to his body being all but rooted.

Melbourne will not make the same mistake with Watts. The four year plan they have is the correct way to develop him, I don't know if Bailey will be our coach in 6 years time but the work he is overseeing now will pay dividends 100 times fold to whoever is in charge then.

I admit that at the time I preferred Naitanui, I also admit that I've made the mistake of camparing him to other no.1 picks in that he's development is much slower, but I've since seen the light. The reality is that the AFL hasn't seen a player like Watts for a long time, James Hird was probably the best comparison in skill and style. Hird didn't really start playing well until he was about 21 or 22, my expectation of Watts is similiar.

Hird had the advantage of being an unknown and was allowed to develop in peace, unfortunately Watts doesn't have that luxury.

I'm proud of the way that the club has stuck to it's plan, the only mistake I think they made was the build up to the Collingwood game. The result of so much publicity I think made the fans expecting a bit too much too soon.

How did it happen?

sounds like an extra curricular activity was involved. Poor kid has much to learn if that's how he's getting himself injured...

The reality is that the AFL hasn't seen a player like Watts for a long time

Maybe that's going a bit far, but it's blatently obvious that anyone claining we have 'stuffed up' is just an ignoramus. Nearly every club would have taken watts, a few would have gone NN, but no chance would Watts have gone past #2. You don't get rated that highly in such an awesome draft for no reason

This whole Watts thing is being blown out of proportion. The kid is still growing that is why his back is sore. The same thing happened to me when I was growing aswell. Weights, full training and growing are obviously going to hurt your back.

Maybe that's going a bit far, but it's blatently obvious that anyone claining we have 'stuffed up' is just an ignoramus. Nearly every club would have taken watts, a few would have gone NN, but no chance would Watts have gone past #2. You don't get rated that highly in such an awesome draft for no reason

What sets Watts apart is his lateral movement and awareness. Those combined with his hieght, speed and contested marking ability puts him into a very special category few other AFL or VFL players have belonged to. All he needs now is desire and a bit of luck

What sets Watts apart is his lateral movement and awareness. Those combined with his hieght, speed and contested marking ability puts him into a very special category few other AFL or VFL players have belonged to. All he needs now is desire and a bit of luck

Correct

Skills - contested marking, kicking CHECK

Brains - awareness, vision, reading the play CHECK

Athleticism - height, speed, engine, agilty CHECK

Heart/Guts - TBD

Watts is not Gary Lyon yet either! You could swear we were talking about our captain and leading goal kicker the way we are carrying on here! He is not anywhere near our best 22 yet.

Don't lose too much sleep yet people