There is so much to feel heartbroken over right now, and Watts is up there near the top of the list.

He is struggling, he is scared of the footy, and scared of making a mistake, and scared of not doing well, and in turn that plays with his mind and makes him play worse.

He is out of form, and he has inherent issues with his physical application that have to be resolved, but he is also a human being.

He has done nothing wrong to anyone, and more than that, he has always been professional and represented the club well off the field, so why then do supporters feel the need to wish him constant failure?

He needs a kick up the butt, and he needs to be dropped to find some touch, and he needs a coach who plays him where he naturally should play (half forward flank) and support him, rather than tossing him around like a rag doll. And most of all, he needs pathetic scumbags to stop booing him at every turn.

He may never become a successful footballer, but he didn't ask to be a number one pick, and he will leave this game 10 years from now with a whole lot more dignity that some of our supporters will.

Edited April 7, 201312 yr by Jaded

There is so much to feel heartbroken over right now, and Watts is up there near the top of the list.

He is struggling, he is scared of the footy, and scared of making a mistake, and scared of not doing well, and in turn that plays with his mind and makes him play worse.

He is out of form, and he has inherent issues with his physical application that have to be resolved, but he is also a human being.

He has done nothing wrong to anyone, and more than that, he has always been professional and represented the club well off the field, so why then do supporters feel the need to wish him constant failure?

He needs a kick up the butt, and he needs to be dropped to find some touch, and he needs a coach who plays him where he naturally should play (half forward flank) and support him, rather than tossing him around like a rag doll. And most of all, he needs pathetic scumbags to stop booing him at every turn.

He may never become a successful footballer, but he didn't ask to be a number one pick, and he will leave this game 10 years from now with a whole lot more dignity that some of our supporters will.

He is not on his own with the form; his pre season was pretty good so I would give him some time to settle, too much heat is placed on Jack and what happened last night was a cheap shot by the FD to sub him.

Jack Watts should have continued to be developed as a forward, he was starting to look dangerous & grow in confidence early last year. When we beat Richmond early last season, he kicked a couple of important goals, took a really strong pack mark & seemed like he was on track.

Like a lot of AFL players he has strengths & weaknesses.

1. FORWARD. On a lead he is quick enough & tall enough to worry defenders & is a accurate kick for goal. If he was left in the forward pocket all season I believe he would kick 30 goals or so in a season.

2. BACKLINE. As a tall backman his weaknesses are exposed, he is not agressive enough to spoil a strong marking forward, gets out-bodied easily & when he ends up on a smaller forward they turn him inside out & he is not agile enough to turn & go with them.

I don't think he will quit AFL & I hope he returns to the forward line where he has the best chance of success, he couldn't do any worse than Sellar!!

He is my 6 year old sons favourite player & have meet him at the clubs family day & he seems like a terrific bloke. I also think he actually cares about the Melbourne footy club.

He is not on his own with the form; his pre season was pretty good so I would give him some time to settle, too much heat is placed on Jack and what happened last night was a cheap shot by the FD to sub him.

My OP is not related to his form. I just don't think his heart is in it. He is a great talent in many ways and will carve out a life for himself somewhere, just not in AFL football.

what happened last night was a cheap shot by the FD to sub him.

In the passage of play that immediately preceded his subbing (the one on the half-forward flank where he had no-one in the forward line to kick it to), he came away from that hobbling... might have been subbed because of a niggle?

Considering he was one of the best young talents the country had seen on the basketball court, I'd walk away.

He was a shoe-in to get a place on a college team apparently and probably would've made NBA.

Instead he comes to play at this rabble and gets questioned by every AFL supporter because he got drafted before a freak.
If I was Watts, I'd leave the game.

He might gain some confidence watching Westoff from Port, who hasn't got a kick in 5 years and is now having a break out year.

In all seriousness I hope Jack walks. He's become a whipping boy for morons with no sense of just how hard the current game is in a team like ours. He's a smart young guy that could achieve a lot in life and I worry about the emotional impact of having 50,000 people abuse you for their own entertainment.

I think Neeld better have a good reason for subbing him off aside from form. You can't say in the pregame 'there are no mistakes' and then back out of that plan an hour later and sacrifice the confidence of a guy under enormous pressure. Talk about mixed messages. That's the kind of stuff that makes players lose confidence in a coach, and in themselves.

In all seriousness I hope Jack walks. He's become a whipping boy for morons with no sense of just how hard the current game is in a team like ours. He's a smart young guy that could achieve a lot in life and I worry about the emotional impact of having 50,000 people abuse you for their own entertainment.

I think Neeld better have a good reason for subbing him off aside from form. You can't say in the pregame 'there are no mistakes' and then back out of that plan an hour later and sacrifice the confidence of a guy under enormous pressure. Talk about mixed messages. That's the kind of stuff that makes players lose confidence in a coach, and in themselves.

According to the coach, Jack Watts was ill in addition to playing poorly.

It was the Draft Selectors hat got it wrong,should never have been touted as number 1 pick.

That's it in a nut shell.

He has all the skills and knowledge but not the burning desire to be the best and be a game breaker.

You can not teach this,it is in your make up and you can not fake it also.

For those waiting for Watts to have a break out game and then dominate, don't hold your breath it won't happen.

He will never live up to expectations of a 1st pick because he should not have been.

Also Melbourne should have done their home work and picked a player who was ready or close enough to go straight off.

A club fighting to be competitive and survival, picking a player they have to put years in to before they produce ,bad recruiting.

We needed types like a Rich, Viney,Wines,Heppel,etc.

There lies the problem, it's not Jacks fault he is what he is.

Should go back and play basketball. He'd demolish at NBL, hell maybe even NBA level, especially with an AFL-ish physique.

has to be said that getting drafted by us is just a curse for anyone's career. We will never know what this player might have been at a real organisation, same goes for Sylvia, Morton etc We have been burning high draft picks for the better part of a decade. Very sad.

I think Jack Watts gives every sign of "buy-in", the same as Jack Trengove. Both of them talents that Neeld should have left alone to do what they were undoubtedly good at.

Play him on the wing or the forward line. Every defender is cursed at Melbourne, under the current "game plan".

Edited April 7, 201312 yr by robbiefrom13

I was there in saturday night and Watts was no better or worse than anyone else. I honestly believe its the game plan, not talent and not intensity thats killing us. People will disagree with me here but I didnt see a lack of intensity i saw a lack of intelligent game plan.

No one gets any loose ball the way we play...yet the opposition, in the way they shape up, gets heavy doses of it. When I see our structure theres hardly any obvious choices about where to kick it when we DO actually get it. Looking at Essendon there was usually at least 2 obvious choices about where to go in most possessions they had. One way creates confidence, support and urgency, the other desperation and fear.

For mine, Watts is one of our best. Its pure distraction to point the finger at him. The game plan is one thats either designed by a fool or the players dont know how to do it. My sense coming into season 2 of Neelds tenure is that its the game plan.

Perhaps because of this, it really looks like Neelds lost the players. We can argue all we like about how bad the players are to "drop" a coach but players just dont DO that unless things are pretty bad. Its their careers as well. Im thinking of a WW1 general and how at the end of the war the soldiers didnt respect or want to follow the orders to run over the trenches. Maybe we should stop blaming the players here for a moment and start looking more deeply into what they're being asked to do.

FWIW I'm with Wells11 etc who blame the game plan, structure, etc - ie the coaching - rather than Watts the individual. I've seen him do some great stuff in the past. As for subbing him - well, if he was unwell and if that was made clear to him, fair enough. But if he was subbed off because Neeld thought he was playing badly, there were plenty worse (Gillies beard could have done a Better job than it's owner)

I was there in saturday night and Watts was no better or worse than anyone else. I honestly believe its the game plan, not talent and not intensity thats killing us. People will disagree with me here but I didnt see a lack of intensity i saw a lack of intelligent game plan.

No one gets any loose ball the way we play...yet the opposition, in the way they shape up, gets heavy doses of it. When I see our structure theres hardly any obvious choices about where to kick it when we DO actually get it. Looking at Essendon there was usually at least 2 obvious choices about where to go in most possessions they had. One way creates confidence, support and urgency, the other desperation and fear.

For mine, Watts is one of our best. Its pure distraction to point the finger at him. The game plan is one thats either designed by a fool or the players dont know how to do it. My sense coming into season 2 of Neelds tenure is that its the game plan.

Perhaps because of this, it really looks like Neelds lost the players. We can argue all we like about how bad the players are to "drop" a coach but players just dont DO that unless things are pretty bad. Its their careers as well. Im thinking of a WW1 general and how at the end of the war the soldiers didnt respect or want to follow the orders to run over the trenches. Maybe we should stop blaming the players here for a moment and start looking more deeply into what they're being asked to do.

Im in agreeance Wells. the players are not all Duds. some are but we have some real talent on the list. they dont just suddenly forget how to play footy. its clear as day that there is a lot of confusion out on the ground. players caught out of position look lazy, but its jsut as likely that the structure neeld is trying to implement jsut doesnt stand up to match conditions. I watched sylvias face last week during one of the breaks. he was watching neeld speak but you could see the look on his face. he just doesnt believe in what theyre trying to do. grimes is a team first guy. he'd probaly take a bullet for neeld. ohter blokes just dont believe in what neelds trying to implement - and it shows.

David King of all people was just defending watts on afl insider.

basically said the the media treatment was unfair.

showed vision of him against essendon where he was set up as an option to kick to in defence and when the ball was turned over he had 4 (YES 4) essendon players to cover in the corridor as the rest of the dees players were lolly gagging about on the flank. and of course one player takes the mark (this case it was alwyn davey), watts got there late and thats what everyone sees, but he was trying to cover 4 players.

said he watched the watts whole first quarter and said he was playing unselfish team footy where his direct opponent didnt get a kick.

this is from david "i hate melbourne" king remember.

he then went on to say our defensive system was up the creek - and i watched the game from level 4 and i agree with him.

last week we didnt have players going to the man with the ball.

this week we had players leaving their opponent (of course leaving them free) to go to the player with the ball. its a step forward i guess but there was one passage of play where they just went to the player abotu to get the ball, leavin gtheir opponent about 6 times. of course their opponent got the ball and the bombers just short kicked it forward to the next loose man, eventually bombing it into the 50 (where most of our players were flooding).

how can this be fixed?

if you see this happening, everyone has to roll up onto the next opponent straight away, leaving everyone one on one.

Te funny thing is, that those that are now saying he should leave Melbourne and all the scrutiny is unfair are the same bloody people that have put him in the spotlight!

I am hurting for Jack Watts at the moment, would have been demoralisng to have thousands of people clap and cheer when you got subbed out of a game. If anybody were to be subbed it should have been Colin "I want the game to end so I can go sink P155 at Boutique" Sylvia!.

In saying that, I think he should spend a month down at Casey playing on a HFF to build up some confidence.

Neeld is the problem. Jack will come good.

I thought he was unfairly subbed off on Saturday, yes he wasn't having a great game but there was at least 6 or 7 worse.

I also saw AFL insider and for David King to stand up for him he must be doing the right thing as David King hates the Melbourne footy club.

FFS..

Some of you blokes are worse than the media with this bloke..

wheres the Dan Nicholson thread..

the Tom Gollies Thread..

the Colin Garland thread..

the Colin Sylvia thread..

the Mark Jamar thread..

the Shannon Byrnes thread..

the David Rodan thread..

theres 18 other blokes whos input has been shithouse..

theres 0 other blokes who have lost a relative and been this harshly criticised..

next topic please.

Neeld is the problem. Jack will come good.

How is Neeld the problem, better yet HOW do you know Neeld is the problem?

Will the penny drop for Jack?

Will he turn the corner and get serious?

Its not too late for Jack........make it happen Jack... before its too late

I thought he was unfairly subbed off on Saturday, yes he wasn't having a great game but there was at least 6 or 7 worse.

I also saw AFL insider and for David King to stand up for him he must be doing the right thing as David King hates the Melbourne footy club.

I agree with what David King said in his analysis and playbacks of where Watts positioned himself during the game.

I was there in saturday night and Watts was no better or worse than anyone else. I honestly believe its the game plan, not talent and not intensity thats killing us. People will disagree with me here but I didnt see a lack of intensity i saw a lack of intelligent game plan.

No one gets any loose ball the way we play...yet the opposition, in the way they shape up, gets heavy doses of it. When I see our structure theres hardly any obvious choices about where to kick it when we DO actually get it. Looking at Essendon there was usually at least 2 obvious choices about where to go in most possessions they had. One way creates confidence, support and urgency, the other desperation and fear.

For mine, Watts is one of our best. Its pure distraction to point the finger at him. The game plan is one thats either designed by a fool or the players dont know how to do it. My sense coming into season 2 of Neelds tenure is that its the game plan.

Perhaps because of this, it really looks like Neelds lost the players. We can argue all we like about how bad the players are to "drop" a coach but players just dont DO that unless things are pretty bad. Its their careers as well. Im thinking of a WW1 general and how at the end of the war the soldiers didnt respect or want to follow the orders to run over the trenches. Maybe we should stop blaming the players here for a moment and start looking more deeply into what they're being asked to do.

Agree with this 100%

This is a Player group/coach problem.They do not believe in Neeld's gameplan.

Neeld has taken our club back 3 years and this team will not improve 1% until he is sacked,in fact we are going further backwards by the week,most people can see this.

JT had a great first year and has gone so far backwards under Neeld,he has stunted his growth and he is shot mentally,same goes for Chip.

I don't know who our new coach should be but our last 5 coaches have been first time coaches but first time coaches have worked at other clubs like Clarkson,Scott brothers,Bomber,Longmire and Sheedy,Matthews,Eade and Roos won't take us on so there isn't much choice.