There is no justification for how he performed today.. He was shocking. Worse he was not alone. Jack has shown glimpses of how he can play, and his performance in the NAB Cup would be exactly what I want in the regular season..

That said, lets not throw the baby out with the bath water.. 3 players out of 22 gained a pass mark today and Jack is at the top of a very large list that includes our BNF player from last year.

Just because he's our number 1 pick doesn't excuse a bad performance but he sadly isn't the only one.

He wasn't on his pat malone today.

he certainly wasn't, but how is that relevant?

Wasn't good enough today. I know Jack experienced a family loss during the week, so I will cut him some slack. But if he's going to play spare man in defence, it's obvious, but he has to get much more of the ball and use his sublime skills to set up attacks and thus influence the game.

then you'd expect him to play his heart out. i know i would

he certainly wasn't, but how is that relevant?

It's relevant because there's not threads for everyone who played poorly today, just the usual whipping boy.

he certainly wasn't, but how is that relevant?

I'm not a Watts fan but there were 17 other players who were shite today.

That's why it's relevant.

He was crap.

What I don't get though is why Neeld makes no positional moves during matches. The guy is having a stinker, we are getting destroyed, push him up the wing, let him get some ball. If there is one thing you can't say against Watts is his use of the footy is damn good.

And this goes for everyone. Neeld does nothing during games. Be bold, make moves. If we are gonna lose anyway, maybe you can learn something in the meantime?

Agreed. He's not proactive or innovative. Make some moves for somebody's sake.

We are down by 10 goals, put him in the middle and say if you can't get 5 contested possessions before the end of the game you are playing at Casey next week.

yep i agree. i see players stinking it up in their positions and in the fourth quarter they are still there stinking it up, wtf? make some [censored] changes!!!

He wasn't really loose, Port put a player on him for most of the game.

And he completely, completely failed to deal with that.

Ken Hinkley scores one tactical point. He made the correct observation that a LOT of Melbourne's defenders struggle seriously if given their own close check.

And of course he also observed that none of our forwards on the day were fast or creative enough to break away from their own close checks. Mitch Clark gets a little bit of latitude coming back from injury, but by the same token, he did the best of all our supposed forwards.

I've got no room in our best 22 for Sellar, Pederson or Gillies, based on today's effort. Bring in extra endurance midfielders so at least we can get to position. Those empty forward lines were embarrassing to see.

If Dawes comes in next week, his benchmarks will be - get more disposals/marks/tackles/goals than two of those guys, pass mark.Get more than all three, good game. And that sums up how rubbish they were.

As for Watts, he simply needs to bring at least twice what he offered today in order to be considered a pass mark.

Sigh. How long until we get Tom McDonald back?

Edited March 31, 201312 yr by Little Goffy

He wasn't really loose, Port put a player on him for most of the game.

And he completely, completely failed to deal with that.

Ken Hinkley scores one tactical point. He made the correct observation that a LOT of Melbourne's defenders struggle seriously if given their own close check.

And of course he also observed that none of our forwards on the day were fast or creative enough to break away from their own close checks. Mitch Clark gets a little bit of latitude coming back from injury, but by the same token, he did the best of all our supposed forwards.

I've got no room in our best 22 for Sellar, Pederson or Gillies, based on today's effort. Bring in extra endurance midfielders so at least we can get to position. Those empty forward lines were embarrassing to see.

If Dawes comes in next week, his benchmarks will be - get more disposals/marks/tackles/goals than two of those guys, pass mark.Get more than all three, good game. And that sums up how rubbish they were.

As for Watts, he simply needs to bring at least twice what he offered today in order to be considered a pass mark.

Sigh. How long until we get Tom McDonald back?

From what I understood from the radio, they had Paul Stewart tagging him, and we spent a lot of the match trying to get Watts freed up to play loose. As a result, our defenders kept having to look after Stewart because Watts wasn't bothering to do so. Is that how you saw it?

Either way, the fact is, Watts had a shocker, didn't do what he was asked to do (either play on Stewart or have an influence loose).

From what I understood from the radio, they had Paul Stewart tagging him, and we spent a lot of the match trying to get Watts freed up to play loose. As a result, our defenders kept having to look after Stewart because Watts wasn't bothering to do so. Is that how you saw it?

Either way, the fact is, Watts had a shocker, didn't do what he was asked to do (either play on Stewart or have an influence loose).

Watts was playing loose, as they had westhoff playing loose for parts and i forget the other player they had playing loose.

Port adelaide made paul stewart who was playing on dunn follow watts around, with dunn following him, meaning it was a 2 on 1, watts would then try to get loose, dunn would let stewart run with watts trying to get the cheap kick, then watts was left chasing stewarts tail. Watts was never able to get to the good spots as he had no protection from his team mates. This is not defending watts because at the end of the day he should have drawn stewart to the kick down from play where it would have been a 2 on 1, watts and dunn, instead of trying to drag him up the field and thus losing him in the play, meaning that stewart was streaming down the field when we turned it over, watts was caught chasing tail and dunn just manned up on the nearest player to make it look like he had a man in the "structures"

why we never manned up their loose man and played a 7 man fwd line so we had one on ones all over the field is beyond me because we just kept picking out their loose man over and over!

He has no mongrel and no desire for the contest, end of story. At at better club with better players around him it would be less obvious but unfortunately for Jack there's no hiding in the rabble that is our current side.

"WATTS" he doing in this football team ??? That's all I ask Heard enough excuses about this guy. Get the beard off !! Get the Melbourne jumper off and wear a Casey one. He is not and probably never will be an AFL Senior footballer.All he ever was was a "poncey" standout Schoolboy player and Melbourne Football Club had no good reason to bloody well pick him as a number one draft pick !!! I will say RIGHT now as I did over two years ago this guy will NEVER succeed at AFL Senior level. What a waste of a number one pick. WE seem to have a record of making bad draft selections ..THAT also seems to be part of our culture.

I watch this guy at training and he has everything.

He just seems to be at the heart of the problem that afflicts the MFC.

It is not all his fault but he seems to represent so many on our list.

Come game day they are crap.

I have no idea why!

I love when he gave Schulz a free run at mark of the year.

Anyone that defends this bloke, please show me one time that he attacked a pack like Schulz did, going for either a mark or spoil. Good luck.

The bearded lady.

Re the Mark of the year, if you look at the video, see port game review at http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/paul-roos-declares-something-is-seriously-wrong-with-melbourne-after-disastrous-start-to-the-season/story-e6frf3e3-1226610632733#.UVoxbTeMw1d

it looks like a Melbourne Players hand is under the ball before Schulz marks it behind the line, this should have been a point.

The thing I find most frustrating with Watts on Sunday is that he was doing no good in the backline, why persist with him them change it up, move him on the ball, move him forward, sit him on the bench. He is one of our prime movers why leave him there doing nothing... mades no sense.....

First of all I am not a JW hater but I have to say this .. HE WAS NOT A SPARE MAN on Sunday .. after every goal he had a direct opponent and yet he never stood with him. If he was supposed to be loose man then who the hell was meant to take his opponent. Not at any time on Sunday did was he standing by himself when the ball was thrown up in the middle and I was right behind the goals so I could see that shocking beard from a mile away. Jack was like every defender on sunday ,... lazy and soft

He's not a defender. He's not a forward. What is he then? A guy with a bad beard?

Watts was playing loose, as they had westhoff playing loose for parts and i forget the other player they had playing loose.

Port adelaide made paul stewart who was playing on dunn follow watts around, with dunn following him, meaning it was a 2 on 1, watts would then try to get loose, dunn would let stewart run with watts trying to get the cheap kick, then watts was left chasing stewarts tail. Watts was never able to get to the good spots as he had no protection from his team mates. This is not defending watts because at the end of the day he should have drawn stewart to the kick down from play where it would have been a 2 on 1, watts and dunn, instead of trying to drag him up the field and thus losing him in the play, meaning that stewart was streaming down the field when we turned it over, watts was caught chasing tail and dunn just manned up on the nearest player to make it look like he had a man in the "structures"

why we never manned up their loose man and played a 7 man fwd line so we had one on ones all over the field is beyond me because we just kept picking out their loose man over and over!

Thanks for that.

The loose man is one tactic that Neeld simply has to do away with. It continually hurts us more than it helps us.

Also, Dunn is insipid.

I too cant understand why Neeld did not change tactics to man on man at half time. It was obvious to all that the game plan in the first half was going to lead to a loss. I was suprised with the lack of tactical moves made particularly at half time.

Neeld is a spud!

He should have been shown the door last season. He is the greatest mistake since sacking Norm Smith.

Neeld must assign Watts to Hurley on Saturday and tell him to stick to him like [censored] to a blanket.

Quit letting him hide and let's see what he can do.

Can anyone explain to me why Watts didn't take every kick-in? I know Dunn can kick, but he is a dumb footballer. He takes too long to kick it in, and then when he does, 95% of the time it's either long to the boundary or long down the middle.

Surely it is better to have Watts taking the kick-in, who we know is a superb kick, but is also happy to try and find an open man 40m away. Have Dunn standing in the pocket as the get out kick, who can then kick long if necessary. Watts will make mistakes from time to time kicking in, but i would much rather see him make a mistake looking for a target, which if it comes off will leave us in a good position, than the same old long kick to the boundary.

Can anyone explain to me why Watts didn't take every kick-in? I know Dunn can kick, but he is a dumb footballer. He takes too long to kick it in, and then when he does, 95% of the time it's either long to the boundary or long down the middle.

Surely it is better to have Watts taking the kick-in, who we know is a superb kick, but is also happy to try and find an open man 40m away. Have Dunn standing in the pocket as the get out kick, who can then kick long if necessary. Watts will make mistakes from time to time kicking in, but i would much rather see him make a mistake looking for a target, which if it comes off will leave us in a good position, than the same old long kick to the boundary.

My thoughts exactly

Neeld must assign Watts to Hurley on Saturday and tell him to stick to him like [censored] to a blanket.

Quit letting him hide and let's see what he can do.

RR, I like your posts, but Saturday night is about harm minimisation, not collateral damage.

JW will never compete with Hurley......Hurley will beat him up.