The Jack Watts Dossier

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

He'll always be underrated I think.

Yep, just like his predecessor, the great Junior McDonald, he doesn't do much for the highlight reel but it is important to the side

[wonnabeeri 275]

I had some absolute muppets sitting behind me in mcc today that were just ripping into jack watts at every opportunity. I gave them a pretty good serve. Cant stand it when our own supporters have a go at our own players with no credible argument other than "he's [censored]".

[Chook 15,013]

He seems to be the most generally unlucky player in football at the moment. His tackles just fail to stick, his kicks miss by inches, balls don't bounce quite right for him, and so on.

[Matt Demon 1,472]

For somebody who's meant to be so quick and agile he looks very slow and awkward. In the 3 games he's played this year i don't see any improvement from last season, he should go back to Casey, kick a few goals get more of the footy and earn a spot. At the moment he's getting a game because his names Jack Watts and he was the number 1 pick. I'm all for getting games into the kids but they have to be contributing.

[jnrmac 20,104]

Hurley has 31 games averaging 15.5 possession per game and 0.8 goals per game.

Watts has 20 games averaging 12.2 possessions per game and 0.7 goals per game.

Watts turned 20 eight days ago. Hurley turned 20 ten months ago.

I'm not sure that there's anything more conclusive in those stats than that they are both very early into their careers, but it's still interesting.

Hurley's been playing footy a lot longer than Watts. Watt's was a basketballer until 17yo?

[Deenamite 0]

Hurley's been playing footy a lot longer than Watts. Watt's was a basketballer until 17yo?

He's played footy all his life

[Guest Gotzy15]

I might cop it for this- its a big possibly premature call but im going to put it out there and stand by it and im prepared to cop it sweet from everyone on here if im wrong. Im going to put my credibility on the line and say........

JACK WATTS WILL NOT MAKE IT AS A PLAYER!

[Felix 92]

I might cop it for this- its a big possibly premature call but im going to put it out there and stand by it and im prepared to cop it sweet from everyone on here if im wrong. Im going to put my credibility on the line and say........

JACK WATTS WILL NOT MAKE IT AS A PLAYER!

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but i am curious as to how you came up with that statement?

[Grandson of a gun 276]

I might cop it for this- its a big possibly premature call but im going to put it out there and stand by it and im prepared to cop it sweet from everyone on here if im wrong. Im going to put my credibility on the line and say........

JACK WATTS WILL NOT MAKE IT AS A PLAYER!

Very vague statement Gotzy. How about you be a little more specific...what is the definition of not making it as a player???

[Guest Gotzy15]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but i am curious as to how you came up with that statement?

I honestly just dont see the heart, desire and passion. You cant possibly deny that you need all those attributes to be a 100+ game player. He doesnt seem to command the ball, lead and work hard to provide an option. Seems to panic when he gets the ball and is very slow to make decisions. His defensive work is absolutely deplorable and basically he looks lost out on the field. Guys like Michael Hurley who is the same age show all these attributes in spades and Watts shows nothing. I can only assume the coaching staff subbed him off today as it was getting increasingly painful to watch. So ye thats how i come up with a statement like that and im more than prepared and willing to cop it if he proves me wrong.

[Guest Gotzy15]

Very vague statement Gotzy. How about you be a little more specific...what is the definition of not making it as a player???

Ok if i need to make it measurable then i cant see him playing 100 games for our footy club.

[stuie 7,374]

I might cop it for this- its a big possibly premature call but im going to put it out there and stand by it and im prepared to cop it sweet from everyone on here if im wrong. Im going to put my credibility on the line and say........

JACK WATTS WILL NOT MAKE IT AS A PLAYER!

Fair enough, how about "Gotzy15 will never make it as a supporter?!"

[Guest Gotzy15]

Fair enough, how about "Gotzy15 will never make it as a supporter?!"

Whats it got to do with being a supporter?? Mate i love jack watts and i love every single bloke in our team. As i said im prepared to cop it but im going to stand by what ive said. He will not play 100 games for us

[Felix 92]

I honestly just dont see the heart, desire and passion. You cant possibly deny that you need all those attributes to be a 100+ game player. He doesnt seem to command the ball, lead and work hard to provide an option. Seems to panic when he gets the ball and is very slow to make decisions. His defensive work is absolutely deplorable and basically he looks lost out on the field. Guys like Michael Hurley who is the same age show all these attributes in spades and Watts shows nothing. I can only assume the coaching staff subbed him off today as it was getting increasingly painful to watch. So ye thats how i come up with a statement like that and im more than prepared and willing to cop it if he proves me wrong.

He is not going to come out and demolish the league in 20 appearances, He needs a few season (full seasons) under his belt before he can kick the expected 6 goals a game for the MFC. Melbournes best side has avg games of 50 odd, Pies 101 & Geelong 150 odd, Im only stating this to show you that things will take time, he is not Hurley nor Nic Nat, so there is no point comparing them.

give it time, you dont want him peaking whilst the midfield is developing, it just wont work. We will all see in a few seasons when the entire side will play as we expect of them..

[Guest Thomo]

Watts looks to be an athlete who is not a footballer. 6 touches is not enough in three quarters of football. It says that he is not running to the right positions, he is not reading the play, and he is having no impact on the game.

Watts needs to spend some time at Casey. Every other player in the team earned their spot in the side, Watts didn't. I don't think this is a Watts problem, it has been bad management by the football department. They promoted him on reputation and for marketing reasons. Even Scully and Trengove earned their spot, by performing in the NAB cup. Watts has been thrown into the top level without the necessary education in football at an easier level. He will learn more by being involved in a game than being dragged for poor form,

He was poor today and got subbed off. Maric and Jetta had the same treatment in the last two weeks, and are back at Casey. If he stays in the side next week it sends a bad message to the rest of the group.

[e25 5]

I might cop it for this- its a big possibly premature call but im going to put it out there and stand by it and im prepared to cop it sweet from everyone on here if im wrong. Im going to put my credibility on the line and say........

JACK WATTS WILL NOT MAKE IT AS A PLAYER!

You can't out your credibility on the line when you have none... and you just proved it with that statement.

[Ash35 425]

Do peoples confidence in Jack Watts "making it" as a player come from the fact that he was a No 1 draft pick or from what they have actually seen?

Personally, it is still far too early to write him off, but early on in his 3rd season, I haven't seen anything that screams 'superstar in the making' either.

[drdrake 3,178]

At the moment he is playing mainly as a lead up forward, playing this role requires a couple of thinks you work hard to present your team mates kick the footy to you and more importantly your team mates kick the footy well to you.

Lets face facts we have been very poor as a team for all but 5 quarters of footy. For three quarters against Hawthorn we struggled to get the ball forward of centre, Yesterday we played a quarter and a half of good footy the rest was bad and Sydney was the same. As our midfield gets better so will Watts, IMO he is thinking to much of where he should be running to, rather than playing on instincts. In other words he is playing like a robot, he looks tense, to me he is more worried about his postioning in regards to team structure then winning the footy.

I think he should be played against the Gold Coast, play him deep forward besides Jurrah, our midfield should be able to get the supply lets try him close to goal.

[old55 23,613]

It says that he is not running to the right positions, he is not reading the play, and he is having no impact on the game.

I don't think that's right, he does make good ground position and is able to get into a 1:1 with some space on his opponent but team-mates don't go to him in this situation because it appears they don't have confidence he'll win the contest - and there's some evidence that's true. They need to be confident he'll win the 1:1 and maybe that will come with further physical development.

[Guest Gotzy15]

Some of you guys are honestly dellusional if you are backing up jack watts and getting stuck into me after my statement.the problem is that people keep jumping to his defence and saying it'll take more time etc.I'm not saying I expect him to be a superstar but what I do want to see are some good positive signs and some endeavor and we are not seeing anything.I am sick of seeing him lope around like a chook with it's head cut off and it continually frustrates me that he's not putting in like the rest of the boys and keeping guys like petterd who would die for our footy club. I'm certain that he doesn't have the attributes of a 100 game player for our club and if anyone can honestly give me some cold hard evidence of there being serious potential (not the standard it'll take time,he's stil learning crap) then be my guest.we need to stop being soft on our players that don't perform and put in and make them accountable instead of giving every excuse under the sun.

[rpfc 28,521]

Some of you guys are honestly dellusional if you are backing up jack watts and getting stuck into me after my statement.the problem is that people keep jumping to his defence and saying it'll take more time etc.I'm not saying I expect him to be a superstar but what I do want to see are some good positive signs and some endeavor and we are not seeing anything.I am sick of seeing him lope around like a chook with it's head cut off and it continually frustrates me that he's not putting in like the rest of the boys and keeping guys like petterd who would die for our footy club. I'm certain that he doesn't have the attributes of a 100 game player for our club and if anyone can honestly give me some cold hard evidence of there being serious potential (not the standard it'll take time,he's stil learning crap) then be my guest.we need to stop being soft on our players that don't perform and put in and make them accountable instead of giving every excuse under the sun.

We have a go at posters like you because you give no credit at all.

His progress is slow, his body shape is slowly changing, everything is slow at the moment.

But the one thing that I can say is that the kid runs all day, I wish the club would release his GPS details with distance covered and repeat sprints, etc.

His workrate is very good.

And you also do no favours when you intimate that one player loves the club more than the other.

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

honestly give me some cold hard evidence of there being serious potential

I am with you 100% and have been for a while, we do not expect enough of our players. Look at Morton he looks like a Casey twos player not a #4 draft pick. However, if you want a bit of evidence for Watts look at the contested pack mark from last week. Even yesterday I thought he did some good things when the pill was at ground level. I am far from sold on him but there is something there

[Bonkers 994]

Do peoples confidence in Jack Watts "making it" as a player come from the fact that he was a No 1 draft pick or from what they have actually seen?

Personally, it is still far too early to write him off, but early on in his 3rd season, I haven't seen anything that screams 'superstar in the making' either.

His impact last year against Port up in Darwin was pretty good. That is the game that sticks out in my mind as his best from memory. I've seen glimpses of play where his thinking & spacial awareness is a few seconds ahead of everyone else around him. He also has pretty clean hands below his knees for a player of his size. His work rate is pretty good also, think he laid 5 tackles yesterday.

He probably needs to be played a bit more in areas where his height & athleticism can give him an advantage. Could be worth a gamble telling him to stay a little closer to goal for periods of games, he may have a greater impact on games by using his height, speed & leap deeper in the forward line instead of picking up midfield possessions up the ground where he seems to get lost at times. Although he is undersized in terms of physical development, it can't hurt to play him at full forward for periods & push Jurrah up the ground.

[Guest Gotzy15]

We have a go at posters like you because you give no credit at all.

His progress is slow, his body shape is slowly changing, everything is slow at the moment.

But the one thing that I can say is that the kid runs all day, I wish the club would release his GPS details with distance covered and repeat sprints, etc.

His workrate is very good.

And you also do no favours when you intimate that one player loves the club more than the other.

Mate you have got to be kidding me if you think his work rate is acceptable!! He never chases or applies any forward pressure and he doesn't even lead up to the ball he is constantly a stationary target.I'm not trying to be negative or anything but it just makes me sick with how soft we are on guys that don't put in the required effort and perform consistently.not enough supporters and members of the coaching staff are prepared to put the acid on our players.people like Mick malthouse are ruthless on poor performance no matter what age the player is.he needs a decent spray and yes the way petterd plays shows much more commitment and passion for the club

[Clanger King 9]

I agree with Gotzy. If people on here think Jack Watts is progressing the way the club likes you are kidding yourself. He got benched after only having 6 disposals in 3qrts of football and in the first term he was pretty much playing on a wing. It's not like teams put good players on him, I'm pretty sure he was running with Polec in the first term and he seemed to find it... Also noticed in a couple of other contests they had Lester on him. These players are only 1 and 2 gamers it's fair to say Watts should be giving them a lesson. It's like no one respects him and nor should they.

He's the only number 1 pick in the last 10 years to not get a rising star nomination. I couldn't give a stuff about his GPS result. I can about how hard he runs at a contest without looking at the man in front of him... Lachlan Hansen is known for having high GPS results. Is that what we can look forward to? Awesome...

Some people need to have a look at the vision where Buddy Franklin attacks the footy and cleans up Ben Cousins in his 2 year of football and tell me if you need a big body to have a physical influence on a contest. He looks skinner then Watts..

Edited April 11, 2011 by Clanger King