Footy 101 - You give games to the blokes who deserve them.

It pisses players off when they don't get games when they deserve to.

And playing blokes who don't deserve a game can enable under-performance.

  On 16/08/2010 at 10:35, Sturmmann said:

If Watts is getting 300k, what is going to happen to the salary cap in 3 years when the Scully, Trengove & co are killing it and ask for the big $$$, acn MFC fit all these players into the $9 odd million salary cap?

MFC have front loaded contracts such they we fully use up our salary cap this year with room to engineer for future years.

I just don't think the Watts bashers recognise a young gun even when he's a 6'6" blonde .

He can read the play , run like a gazelle , deliver lace out passes to forwards and has more ball handling skill than Bate and Miller put together .

One of the previous posters refered to him as soft . He's only 18-19 and in his young mind I'll bet it hasn't really dawned on him that he's as big as he is . Up until his last pre-season he hadn't lifted anything heavier than his schoolbag and then shows up at training to be ragdolled by Chip , Miller , Warnock and co. but when he gets more confidence that will come with both weights and games played he will be one of the premier players in the competion . He won't see himself as a junior member of the club , he'll start looking goalward more often instead of the team orientated dish off , he'll realise that when he goes in hard he won't get killed and opposition sides will struggle to handle his height , speed and power . When it finally all comes together , Watts in full flight will truly be a sight to behold .

I feel that other clubs supporters realise this and so are praying to god he fails , which he won't .

  On 16/08/2010 at 12:32, Fork said:

I just don't think the Watts bashers recognise a young gun even when he's a 6'6" blonde .

He can read the play , run like a gazelle , deliver lace out passes to forwards and has more ball handling skill than Bate and Miller put together .

One of the previous posters refered to him as soft . He's only 18-19 and in his young mind I'll bet it hasn't really dawned on him that he's as big as he is . Up until his last pre-season he hadn't lifted anything heavier than his schoolbag and then shows up at training to be ragdolled by Chip , Miller , Warnock and co. but when he gets more confidence that will come with both weights and games played he will be one of the premier players in the competion . He won't see himself as a junior member of the club , he'll start looking goalward more often instead of the team orientated dish off , he'll realise that when he goes in hard he won't get killed and opposition sides will struggle to handle his height , speed and power . When it finally all comes together , Watts in full flight will truly be a sight to behold .

I feel that other clubs supporters realise this and so are praying to god he fails , which he won't .

I really really really hope you are right 'fork em"!

A front ended contract is where you pay the bulk of a players earnings over the term of the contract early on. For example a player is on $1m over 3 years. Year 1 they might receive $500k, and years 2 and 3 they receive $250k each year.

The benefit is that the player has cash to play with early on to help set themselves up, eg house, car etc, and it frees up space in the salary cap when these players would usually be demanding the bigger dollars.

Well that's how I understand it. Then again, I could be completely wrong!

There is only one thing that hasnt quite settled into place with young Jack and thats his 'presences" within the team. He still has yet to come to grips with his own self belief and the mandate he has. hes still very much the young pup trying not to upset some of the older dogs. He plays a very unselfish game...too selfless to be honest. he has to understand that in the great words of Forrest Gump."Just Do it !!!!" He needs to become comfortable with being the playmaker etc. He has ALL the components of a very good player, just needs to meld them into dynamic composite that beckons.

Im sure he thinks to himslf at times that to do what just comes naturally to him migh tbe taken as lairising etc. He has an uncommon ability to use the ball but he doesnt feel the 'right' just yet. Hopefully this will change.

Use the force Jack....and kick the bloody thign

Glad to hear you feel part of the clan at Melbourne.

  On 16/08/2010 at 22:46, deefiance said:

A front ended contract is where you pay the bulk of a players earnings over the term of the contract early on. For example a player is on $1m over 3 years. Year 1 they might receive $500k, and years 2 and 3 they receive $250k each year.

The benefit is that the player has cash to play with early on to help set themselves up, eg house, car etc, and it frees up space in the salary cap when these players would usually be demanding the bigger dollars.

Well that's how I understand it. Then again, I could be completely wrong!

Pretty much spot on. However, I am pretty sure that the younger players are given seminars on ways to invest the mass amount of money that they are earning so that they are able build a sturdy amount when football is no longer their career.

Most would probably see it as an oppurtunity to go and buy that awesome car due to a frontloaded contract but if invested correctly, their total earnings could be far greater. Not sure how they choose who gets one and who doesn't.

  On 16/08/2010 at 22:47, belzebub59 said:

There is only one thing that hasnt quite settled into place with young Jack and thats his 'presences" within the team. He still has yet to come to grips with his own self belief and the mandate he has. hes still very much the young pup trying not to upset some of the older dogs. He plays a very unselfish game...too selfless to be honest. he has to understand that in the great words of Forrest Gump."Just Do it !!!!" He needs to become comfortable with being the playmaker etc. He has ALL the components of a very good player, just needs to meld them into dynamic composite that beckons.

Im sure he thinks to himslf at times that to do what just comes naturally to him migh tbe taken as lairising etc. He has an uncommon ability to use the ball but he doesnt feel the 'right' just yet. Hopefully this will change.

Use the force Jack....and kick the bloody thign

Glad to hear you feel part of the clan at Melbourne.

Geelong is one of the most unselfish teams going around. Usually this creates many more oppurtunities and avenues to goal and brings others into the game. I know that it is frustrating to watch Jack look for a team mate when he is free but I would rather this than him blaze away from all angles and distances and be seen as selfish, non team orientated and a show pony. It takes 22 players to win a game of footy and his ability to link with nearly every player in the team at one stage or another throughout the game is fantastic. Great players don't just win games of their own boot but also enable others the oppurtunity to do likewise.

Some people think "soft" is a disease that his game will be burdened with for his entire career.

It's only a characteristic that can be ironed out or just grown out of.

Right now, I agree that Jack Watts is soft.

(That isn't to say that next year he won't be bigger and suddenly find an appetite for body contact).

  On 17/08/2010 at 00:54, E25 said:

Some people think "soft" is a disease that his game will be burdened with for his entire career.

It's only a characteristic that can be ironed out or just grown out of.

Right now, I agree that Jack Watts is soft.

(That isn't to say that next year he won't be bigger and suddenly find an appetite for body contact).

No one who plays AFL football is "soft". Jack is not yet comfortable in the physical clashes because he is not yet big enough to win them ..... but that doesn't make him soft. The problem for the opposition in a few years time will be to find someone tall enough to stop him in the air and fast enough to match him on the lead.

Like anyone ... his appetite for body contact will grow when he finds himself big enough to withstand it.

Some people on this thread have suggested that he wouldn't be getting as many games if he had been a No. 20 draft pick......................... Give him a break - if he had been a No 20 draft pick , we'd all be salivating at the way a skinny 19 year old who hasn't done a pre-season is contributing to the improvement in our forward line.

Back to topic - a $300k front-ended contract would not be over the odds

  On 17/08/2010 at 01:42, hoopla said:

The problem for the opposition in a few years time will be to find someone tall enough to stop him in the air and fast enough to match him on the lead.

Is he quick/fast...? :/

Size he can gain; but speed?

  On 17/08/2010 at 01:42, hoopla said:

No one who plays AFL football is "soft". Jack is not yet comfortable in the physical clashes because he is not yet big enough to win them ..... but that doesn't make him soft. The problem for the opposition in a few years time will be to find someone tall enough to stop him in the air and fast enough to match him on the lead.

Like anyone ... his appetite for body contact will grow when he finds himself big enough to withstand it.

Some people on this thread have suggested that he wouldn't be getting as many games if he had been a No. 20 draft pick......................... Give him a break - if he had been a No 20 draft pick , we'd all be salivating at the way a skinny 19 year old who hasn't done a pre-season is contributing to the improvement in our forward line.

Back to topic - a $300k front-ended contract would not be over the odds

Good post Hoopla. Knocked a few issues on the head there.

  On 17/08/2010 at 00:14, Peanuts said:

And just on "soft" Watts. Someone stated here that Watts is a basketball player first and a footballer second. I don't think Watts is soft - I just think he has a natural instinct to avoid physical contact because that is what you do in basketball. He simply doesn't know how to use his body yet but when he learns to he will. In time I think the "soft" categorization will disappear. I remember for years Brad Green being catagorized as "soft". That was wrong then as I think calling Watts "soft" now is.

I've made the following distinction before; soft doesn't necessarily equal lacking courage and courage doesn't necessarily mean hard. Green has tremendous courage, but he's not hard (and obviously, nor is he soft).

Watts plays soft footy. It doesn't mean that he will always play soft footy, or that there aren't mitigating circumstances explaining why, but he unquestionably plays soft footy. Going for a high mark one handed is just one case in point.

remember nick riewoldt was soft when he debut and i think he cried

lets focus on the developing side of things...

is it assumed we pay more because he's a developing KPF and there is a lack of good ones going around? would he get 250k if he was a mid...

  On 17/08/2010 at 02:28, greeny said:

remember nick riewoldt was soft when he debut and i think he cried

no that was his debut year as captain against lions

  On 17/08/2010 at 02:28, greeny said:

remember nick riewoldt was soft when he debut and i think he cried

It had nothing to do with being soft.

  On 17/08/2010 at 01:42, hoopla said:

No one who plays AFL football is "soft". Jack is not yet comfortable in the physical clashes because he is not yet big enough to win them ..... but that doesn't make him soft. The problem for the opposition in a few years time will be to find someone tall enough to stop him in the air and fast enough to match him on the lead.

Like anyone ... his appetite for body contact will grow when he finds himself big enough to withstand it.

Some people on this thread have suggested that he wouldn't be getting as many games if he had been a No. 20 draft pick......................... Give him a break - if he had been a No 20 draft pick , we'd all be salivating at the way a skinny 19 year old who hasn't done a pre-season is contributing to the improvement in our forward line.

Back to topic - a $300k front-ended contract would not be over the odds

Semantics.

It's all relative. I'm not calling him soft in comparison to the toorak U/14s.

It's subjective, but he plays softer than a lot of other players. Now.

It will change as his body develops and he matures metally.

And... Back on topic, I agree. Worth every cent of a $300K front-loaded contract.

  On 17/08/2010 at 03:17, Peanuts said:

We probably agree and I agree with the distinction you are making. But I don't think he plays soft footy (which I agree he does) because he is soft - I think he is just learning.

Isn't that just another way of saying he is soft now, but won't be for too long?

  On 17/08/2010 at 04:24, Peanuts said:

It's probably semantics. I think soft relates to the way a person thinks and not necessarily to the way he plays. I don't think Watts is "scared"(soft) I just think he has played so much basketball where the objectives re body contact are so different he hasn't adjusted yet.

Agree, still playing with his hands, not his body, trying not to foul. Hopefully he works it out over summer.

  On 17/08/2010 at 04:24, Peanuts said:

It's probably semantics. I think soft relates to the way a person thinks and not necessarily to the way he plays. I don't think Watts is "scared"(soft) I just think he has played so much basketball where the objectives re body contact are so different he hasn't adjusted yet.

I don't buy the basketball argument

Plenty of kids his age have no problem switching from playing "soft" in basketball and "hard" in football. He's not some long-term basketballer who has just switched to football

Different definitions of soft is just semantics, if he plays "soft" he plays "soft" - period. I don't know the reason for it but I sure hope he grows out of it. His lack of aggression and urgency is worrying, I hope its just a confidence thing

Not sure if you guys have played much basketball, but rebounding situations in basketball are very physical and involve a lot of body use, pushing etc etc. I recall the rebounding drills we did at the Melbourne Tigers U20s where no foul was called because we had to learn to push and shove and fight for the rebound. Watts was an elite basketball in junior ranks so he would have been exposed to the same thing.

Offensively there is less contact in basketball but defensively when playing at a high level there is a lot that goes on that doesn't get picked up.

I don't think the basketball argument sticks in this case. I would actually suggest that he realises that he doesn't have the body strength to compete one-on-one in a contest of strength so he endeavours to use his strengths to his advantage to win the ball. That is, he uses his speed, his hand eye co-ordination, and agility.

  On 17/08/2010 at 04:58, daisycutter said:

I don't buy the basketball argument

Plenty of kids his age have no problem switching from playing "soft" in basketball and "hard" in football. He's not some long-term basketballer who has just switched to football

Different definitions of soft is just semantics, if he plays "soft" he plays "soft" - period. I don't know the reason for it but I sure hope he grows out of it. His lack of aggression and urgency is worrying, I hope its just a confidence thing

I agree Daisycutter the Basketball think is cobblers.

I seriously doubt he will ever be a "Barry Hall " type.

That does not mean he will not be a good player it just means he may never be a crash and Bash player.

I think his best chance is strength, speed,finese and a red hot go.

If he does that I will be happy, 40 -50 goals a year makes you pretty good.

A CPF who can achieve that will take us close to the big one!

I don't think Watts is necessarily soft. I've seen a lot of ex-basketballers play footy and they tend to have similar characteristics. Playing the round ball with your hands is easy and there is no reason to bodyline the ball because all you'll do is foul. The other thing is that when you get the ball under pressure in basketball your first instinct is to stand still - otherwise you have to dribble the ball and it can be stolen. In footy if you get the ball under pressure then you must be moving, and quickly, otherwise you will be tackled and dispossessed. These habits are generally broken as they play more and more footy. Look at Pendlebury, who was a basketballer and now an inside midfielder - he still keeps a lot of those basketball skills like decision making and finding space in close.

The result is that they look soft because they play a lot with their hands and they can be stationary around contests. They also tend to jump vertically for the ball, like a rebound, rather than launch themselves at a pack because they don't raise their knees. Jack will get better at these things and is clearly still learning about what it is he's supposed to do on the footy field. He's a smart kid and he clearly thinks a lot about the game, but he's still learning what it is he's supposed to be doing on the field. Basketball is pretty tactical and people have their roles to play, and Jack is just learning his. As he plays more and more then his role being come to him more naturally.

One thing that I worried about with Jack early on was his work rate. He didn't cover much ground and looked to just hang around hoping someone would kick him the ball, and I was worried whether he had poor endurance or was just a bit lazy. But his work rate has improved incredibly and he covers so much ground. It shows that he really does have a great attitude to improving his game.

I have very little doubt that he will be a star. Will he be J Brown? Probably not because they aren't the same type of player. Brown couldn't be Watts either, because he doesn't have the same skill set. Watts has everything you need to be a star. The question is, in a few years time who would you play on him? A gorilla can't run with him and a small will be dominated. And if you just try to stop him kicking goals then he's going to run around half forward and rip teams apart. He doesn't need to kick goals to dominate, because he uses the ball so well and so cleverly that he can just orchestrate goals like a puppet master from outside 50.

  On 17/08/2010 at 06:38, Axis of Bob said:

I don't think Watts is necessarily soft. I've seen a lot of ex-basketballers play footy and they tend to have similar characteristics. Playing the round ball with your hands is easy and there is no reason to bodyline the ball because all you'll do is foul. . . .

But Bob, hes NOT JUST an ex-basketballer. He's played football for years (and at a high standard). I played representative football and basketball when I was at school and believe me its not hard to transition between the two when you have had years at both. That was also my experience with other kids I knew who played both.

IF he was mainly a basket-baller who played a little football I might be more inclined to agree with you. Its a promising theory but I don't think applicable here.

It might have more to do with the fact that Jack playing as a junior was always so much taller, skilful and agile than most kids that he didn't need too much physicality or aggression to star, and he just hasn't caught up to the big jump to AFL. Thing is he just had it too easy playing football with kids and he has to readjust to play football with big bodied smarter men.

I'm confident he will end up ok (but I still get the odd pang of doubt). We all expect so much, but that goes with the territory of being #1 pick.