Jack Watts - is his attitude right?

[Guest Rojik of the Arctic]

Sorry if I'm setting the bar to high but what's required of him is to take part in 3-5 winning premierships over his career, a couple of Coleman Medals, a Brownlow or 2, a Keith Truscott Medal, a Norm Smith Medal and also a stable relationship with a beautiful and intelligent women. He won't be able to achieve this tomorrow which is unfortunate.

So you want him to under-achieve? What sort of fan are you?

[DemonDan... 77]

Rarely do I feel inclined to make comment on a topic on Demonland. As I have said many times, I enjoy Demonland and Demonology and encourage our staff to read the forums.

I must say in this case, some of the comments are disappointing and well off-beam.

We make a point of not being defensive in our attitude towards opinions on the merits of our performance, but I will also make a point of defending good young men who are committed to your football club.

I have great confidence in our players, as well as the coaches and administrators who are guiding their careers.

Dont know if thats really you Mr. Schwab, (if I was the real Cam Schwab i dont know if I could hold back the expletives, as demonstrated above)

but cheers for the response if it is! Mabbe next time we may hear from you under better circumstances.

On behalf of the more sensible supporters and posters of this site, i apologize for yet another unnecessary, uninformed pathetic thread on jack watts..

Im embarrassed..

To have a 19 y.o kid picked apart by his own fans is f**king disgusting..

I hope to hell Jack doesnt visit this site.

[damon the demon 57]

Seeing young Jack:

drooling drunk on a weeknight when he had training the following day;

challenging friends to drinking contests; and

smashing down shots like they were going out of fashion,

makes me think that he may have some attitude problems.

However he has plenty of time to get it right so not a great deal of concern

Sorry for adding the above - sick of people deluding themselves

ok and what were you doing there big shot - having devonshire tea?? comeon man what footy player doesnt get [censored] when they're young?? none of em. you are a scaremonger sensationalist attention seeker.

[DeeSpencer 24,792]

Great to see you posting on here Cam.

Don't want to derail the thread too much but a little piece on the club website about Tapscott and where he is at would be greatly appreciated from my point of view, especially now he is no longer listed as indefinite. Gotta get Burgatron doing something!

As for Watts, I think we should all chill out and see what he can do against WC. Even in his games last year (which have so unfairly been criticized as bad performances) he showed some glimpses of some amazing talent. Hopefully he can just keep building throughout this year and what better place to start than at a pumped up MCG.

[Guest Rojik of the Arctic]

This thread is getting silly. What we need is somebody like Cam Schwab to come on here and set the record straight.

[pringle 42]

I would just like to thank Cam Schwab for replying to this thread. Craig Cameron used to post on Demonland from time to time and it was a great thrill as a supporter of the MFC to occasionally get a snippet from inside the club. And it was fantastic to see someone from inside the club willing to come out and back our boy to the hilt in public today on this forum. As I said in my previous post, there is no problem from flower posing the question in this thread. It WAS brought up by a media commentator and he/she is entitled to ask the question. But some people should use discretion as to the content of their replying posts.

Cam, I'm sure you are aware that we are all passionate Melbourne supporters on this site. Most of us are paid up. If you ever feel the urge to come back and post on Demonland for our benefit, your posts will be received with great anticipation.

[rumpole 514]

I love the way that some people take a throwaway line from a commentator on television and turn it into what amounts to character assassination. It's really our version of the tall poppy syndrome, isn't it?

Fact is, the claims about Jack's attitude are nothing but speculation and innuendo. 

It's time to cut the kid some slack.

[Guest DeesPower]

In my mind the club have done the right thing with Jack.

Not sure why people on this site feel the need to hang sh*t on Flower Power, they just asked a question!!!

Jack has been cotton wooled, having your MUM text you about NicNat has to be a frustration also... Someone takes Mrs Watts phone off her will ya!

As mentioned Jack is a late starter to football, yes he played juniors but only made the decision between football and basketball in his draft year.

IF he DID have an attitude problem - DO YOU REALLY THINK THE MFC OR ANYONE ELSE WOULD TELL THE PUBLIC?!?!!? My answer is no way, imagine how much pressure he would be under then.

Parkin is a smart man, he may not have met Jack, but im sure he has his ear tot he ground and has enough football people in his network to make a call like that (not saying he is right)...

Fingers crossed he will be good on Saturday, last we saw of him the GAME was too fast for him and he looked like a duck out of water...

He has put on 9kg, that will stop him being pushed around, and hopefully he can run out the game...

Would love to see him 1 out in the square making big leads out to the 50m ark....

I for one will def be there on Saturday to see what unfolds.

Can I suggest that none of these rumours would exist if Jack was playing even reasonable football in the senior side, but having watched him at Casey now three times he is not even playing reasonable football down there. In my opinion, he was lucky to be selected for this game.

However, if you take the view that given Jack's wonderful natural ability, and his maturity as an individual, and his apparent leadership qualities, the MFC may not be getting the best out of him either in the short or long term by consistently playing him in the 2s. I think perhaps he IS a big time player and will become a lot more effective faster by being in the seniors. It is, if you like, an investment in the future.

That, in my view, in essence is what Parkin was getting at. Not unreasonably in my view.

I have wriiten elsewhere on this site, that we need to understand what Jack is, and what he is not. A lot of Melbourne supporters on here seem to expect that he will be another David Neitz or Wayne Carey ie a dominant power forward. He won't be. Remember, he is very very skillful and is equally at home at FF or on the wing. And he is very quick. You could not imagine Neita on the wing but you could imagine him breaking packs and dominating games through his sheer physical presence. As with Carey. A lot of people hate me for saying this on here,as I have done in the past, but IMO JW is not that sort of player. He may well eventually be just as effective in terms of outcomes as a Carey, but he will get there through sublime skills and guile, not through an intimidating physical presence. More Reiwolt (sp?) than Carey.

It will be interesting to see what unfolds this afternoon, but based on his Casey form I very much doubt he will be as effective as Dunn has been in the last couple of weeks. As I said, an investment in the future.....

Edited May 14, 2010 by DeesPower

[Nasher 33,607]

Dont know if thats really you Mr. Schwab, (if I was the real Cam Schwab i dont know if I could hold back the expletives, as demonstrated above)

but cheers for the response if it is! Mabbe next time we may hear from you under better circumstances.

There's no doubt whatsoever that he's genuine.

And I agree with your post -- I'm more than a little embarrassed with this thread.

[Jarka 767]

There's no doubt whatsoever that he's genuine.

And I agree with your post -- I'm more than a little embarrassed with this thread.

Sometimes we forget that alot of the people who post here are just kids and in a matter of weeks the same people will be gushing with praise. Football is also a very emotive subject for alot of people, it's no exaggeration that it is their religion. Often opinions and conclusions are made and based on a weekly basis, it's the few and not the many who can generally see the overall picture and appreciate what's taking place.

The current Melbourne team is a great example of this. When Bailey, Stynes, Schwab, Connolly and co took over they clearly devised a long term plan to rebuild the club from the ground up. A side effect of this plan was the on field performance weakening for a short time, some supporters saw this and panicked, while others understood what was taking place and realised patience was needed.

It's the same with Watts, the FD are building a champion to play for a decade, not a gimmicky marketing tool that gives instant cheap thrills.

Watts may or may not have a great game today, but it's really irrelevant to the overall journey. The kid is going to be a great player, we all just need a little bit more patience.

PS, Nash, this post wasn't aimed at you, I know I'm preaching to the converted. IT's just trying to put everything into perspective. Everyone is excited by Watts, and sometimes it's difficult for us to remember that he's just a young man who has only very recently just left school.

[Hannabal 4]

I doubt that Watts has any attitude problem whatsoever. In reality, the sacrifices he's already made as a 19 year old in pursuing his vocation are admirable. It's easy to forget what oneself was like at the same age.

Jack is a bit of a lad, but I see no problem in that. He's got the right people around him to help mould his character and I've got great faith in the youngsters coming through. Tom Scully has captain written all over him, as has Grimes and Trengove. With peers like that an already great young man like Jack Watts can't help but tread the right path.

Edited May 15, 2010 by Hannabal

[Jarka 767]

I doubt that Watts has any attitude problem whatsoever. In reality, the sacrifices he's already made as a 19 year old in persuing his vocation are admirable. It's easy to forget what oneself was like at the same age.

Jack is a bit of a lad, but I see no problem in that. He's got the right people around him to help mould his character and I've got great faith in the youngsters coming through. Tom Scully has captain written all over him, as has Grimes and Trengove. With peers like that an already great young man like Jack Watts can't help but tread the right path.

It's just so damn exciting watching this team develop

[The Chazz 4,077]

There's no doubt whatsoever that he's genuine.

And I agree with your post -- I'm more than a little embarrassed with this thread.

I'm so happy that CS has posted on here - it will make a lot of people think about what they are posting before they go ahead and publish some of the rot that they do!

FWIW - I think this whole "attitude" thing of Watts' is more aimed at his attitude toward footy and in particular, training. Now, I'm in no way a relation of David Parkin, but it wouldn't be hard for a well (football) educated man like Parkin to be able to go to training and watch Watts, and how he goes about things. I have never been to a training session as I am in Qld, but I remember reading in posts on here in the pre-season that an assistant coach stopped a drill one day and ripped Watts a new one for the way he approached a drill.

If this is the angle that Parkin is coming from, I can fully understand. You just need to compare the last 2 Number 1 picks. Scully, the true training professional, amazing attitude toward everything, has made an immediate impact. On the other hand, it's never been published about Watts' training ethic, which I would have liked to see increase with the addition of Scully. To add to that, Watts is trying to break in to a very weak forward line, Scully has broken in to a competitive midfield. Regardless of Watts' size, it should be an expectation of his to hold a spot is this team now.

While Scully is a unique freak, and the 2 players are totally different in development, I do have some slight concerns about JW. However, I'm still probably 2 years away from questioning the decision of drafting him.

If I were Watts, and had the potential that he has, I'd be working my ass off now, as he would be sure to benefit from it in the years to come. Train hard, bloody hard, get the media reporting on the positive side of his attitude, then his ability will bloom. Fast forward 5 years, will Watts be the next Riewoldt? NR has an amazing attitude toward footy - doesn't he run some 10 laps before anyone gets to the oval on match day? That sort of thing doesn't happen overnight, and I hope that Watts realises that - he may, which is terrific, if he doesn't, he may be in trouble.

Well done on the recall Jack, give them hell. I did dream last night that you kicked 6 today, no pressure!

Edited May 15, 2010 by billy2803

[Little Goffy 14,058]

Rarely do I feel inclined to make comment on a topic on Demonland. As I have said many times, I enjoy Demonland and Demonology and encourage our staff to read the forums.

I must say in this case, some of the comments are disappointing and well off-beam.

We make a point of not being defensive in our attitude towards opinions on the merits of our performance, but I will also make a point of defending good young men who are committed to your football club.

I have great confidence in our players, as well as the coaches and administrators who are guiding their careers.

Cam Schwab, Melbourne Football Club CEO and troll-slayer.

B)

[Hannabal 4]

Now, I'm in no way a relation of Robert Walls, but it wouldn't be hard for a well (football) educated man like Walls to be able to go to training and watch Watts, and how he goes about things.

I think you're confusing Walls with David Parkin.

[45HG 1,539]

...

Top post.

[The Chazz 4,077]

I think you're confusing Walls with David Parkin.

Sorry - 100% correct - will change. Thanks for that Hannabal!

[Prof 15]

Garry Lyon gave his attitude & demeanour a big plus in the Age this morning. Let's give the lad some space. Hopefully DB will leave Jack in the side for a few weeks and we can all then get a better idea about how he's travelling then.

[Guest DeesPower]

Garry Lyon gave his attitude & demeanour a big plus in the Age this morning. Let's give the lad some space. Hopefully DB will leave Jack in the side for a few weeks and we can all then get a better idea about how he's travelling then.

yes and if you read what Gary Lyon wrote it was not unlike what Parkin said. No one in my view is saying Watts will not be a very good player. The concerns are how he is getting there. We have to believe though in our own experts and so far Cam Schwab's admin seem to be pressing all the right buttons. It does not, and will not though stop loyal supporters making suggestions and asking questions. Nor should it.

Edited May 15, 2010 by DeesPower

[Felix 92]

His "attitude" was no where to be seen today.

[d me 0]

The posts about Jack Watts on this site just make me laugh. No idea what so ever.