Which 2008 draftee am I?

Round 8 2013: 6 kicks, 12 handballs, 6 marks, 20 hit outs and a goal after the siren to win a game.

Not sticking up for Jack necessarily, as he's fallen well below what we hoped for, but you forgot to mention all the other games where Nic Nat had one or two highlights then went missing for 3.5 quarters. Or that Nic Nat is about one full year older than Watts. But of course, that would spoil your cheap, snapshot example of how easy it is to be a draft expert with the help of hindsight. Congratulations Retro.

He wouldn't have kicked it because he wouldn't have gotten the ball. He would have been tucked up playing lose man in defence waiting for his confidence to build

No. He wouldn't have kicked it because we can't get within 10 goals of opposition teams when the siren goes...

No. He wouldn't have kicked it because we can't get within 10 goals of opposition teams when the siren goes...

Are you not well Stuie? You've made a post without bagging Neeld (well, I guess it is indirectly) and blaming him for all the ills in the world. See a doctor quickly mate.

I've got a better question: Would Nic Nat have become the player he has at Melbourne? I'm certain he would be getting a hatorade shower on here weekly while Jack Watts would be tearing it up at West Coast.

We'd still have 22 witches hat in Melbourne guernseys except one would be doing a hell of a palm tree impersonation.

Current Trend in AFL with Geelong, Collingwood, Carlton, Freo and Hawks is to have lots of small forwards . Dawes Clarke Hogan Watts and How seems a little top heavy to me. Christensen, Motlop, Stokes, Smedts and Duncan are much more mobile and leave Pods and Hawkins to take the marks. Move Harry up forward if a grab is needed. Yarran, Garlett, Betts, Milne Rioli, Puopolo, Zaharakis, Davey (other one) are all goal kicking small forwards we need small quick blokes. West Coast is the exception with their monster forward line but Natanui and Cox are the ruckmen who can play forward. Structure is vital

Not sticking up for Jack necessarily, as he's fallen well below what we hoped for, but you forgot to mention all the other games where Nic Nat had one or two highlights then went missing for 3.5 quarters. Or that Nic Nat is about one full year older than Watts. But of course, that would spoil your cheap, snapshot example of how easy it is to be a draft expert with the help of hindsight. Congratulations Retro.

Watts has 50+ games of experience and his development with us has been a balls up from the "new messiah" press BS at the start through to the debacle of his first game and on until now.

Doesn't change the fact that his contribution is "below what we'd hoped for".

He is miles off actually influencing the outcome of a game. Is it him or us... I don't know but we seem to be able to take players generally accepted as the best talent in the land and sometimes make them just acceptable footballers....

By the way if Nic Nat has "only" one or 2 highlights in a game and goes missing he is still one or two in front of Jack. I'll use a snapshot of Jack standing up and delivering when (if) he actually does (probably be when he gets to the Blues?)

Edited May 18, 201312 yr by Retrospective

Watts has 50+ games of experience and his development with us has been a balls up from the "new messiah" press BS at the start through to the debacle of his first game and on until now.

Doesn't change the fact that his contribution is "below what we'd hoped for".

He is miles off actually influencing the outcome of a game. Is it him or us... I don't know but we seem to be able to take players generally accepted as the best talent in the land and sometimes make them just acceptable footballers....

By the way if Nic Nat has "only" one or 2 highlights in a game and goes missing he is still one or two in front of Jack. I'll use a snapshot of Jack standing up and delivering when (if) he actually does (probably be when he gets to the Blues?)

Not arguing with you on the fact that Jack has not been as good as we had hoped. I agree. A lot of contributions to this thread which are constructive have pointed out that we have poorly developed him and many others. We seem to 'Melbournise' the high draft picks very quickly. I severely doubt NN would have been developed any better than Jack, if he would still be at MFC beyond his first 2 yrs, that is. Jack did play some very good games last year, the one against the Swans comes to mind. But he's not going to provide the highlights reel that NN does. If that's what you want Retro, so be it. Hindsight's great for mud slinging, eh?

I'm not interested in a highlight reel... I'd like to win a couple of games in a row..(but I'd actually accept win followed by a loss where we played like we had some sort of plan ..ssshhh it's a secret)

Current Trend in AFL with Geelong, Collingwood, Carlton, Freo and Hawks is to have lots of small forwards . Dawes Clarke Hogan Watts and How seems a little top heavy to me. Christensen, Motlop, Stokes, Smedts and Duncan are much more mobile and leave Pods and Hawkins to take the marks. Move Harry up forward if a grab is needed. Yarran, Garlett, Betts, Milne Rioli, Puopolo, Zaharakis, Davey (other one) are all goal kicking small forwards we need small quick blokes. West Coast is the exception with their monster forward line but Natanui and Cox are the ruckmen who can play forward. Structure is vital

That's because few clubs have the talent and height of Clark, Dawes, Watts, Hogan and Howe. If they did one or 2 of their smalls would be playing elsewhere.

Which 2008 draftee am I?

Round 8 2013: 6 kicks, 12 handballs, 6 marks, 20 hit outs and a goal after the siren to win a game.

whats your point?

No. He wouldn't have kicked it because we can't get within 10 goals of opposition teams when the siren goes...

Post lacks gifs.

Post lacks gifs.

I usually save the gifs for the threads that I think are a bit ridiculous, this one may get close though...

We'd still have 22 witches hat in Melbourne guernseys except one would be doing a hell of a palm tree impersonation.

I laughed far more than I rightfully should have.

whats your point?

Was just a trivia question... ease up on the roids

I laughed far more than I rightfully should have.

Me too. Shame on us.

How good would Watts be if he'd ever had a decent coach and decent development?

Which 2008 draftee am I?

Round 8 2013: 6 kicks, 12 handballs, 6 marks, 20 hit outs and a goal after the siren to win a game.

yawn

Yawn....are we really on this topic again??

...and I'm generally supportive of Jack...

So, that begs the question. why did you feel it necessary to start this topic?

If we had have drafted Nic nat, he would have decided he was home sick and left by now anyway, hopefully we leave jack watts up forward and keep him on next year, a forward line of

Howe Hogan Watts

Dawes Clark Blease

looks pretty good to me.

Now i reckon if you paid him $750k a year he would've felt alot less homesick D26...hmmm ?

And that 750k would've been a great investment i reckon. Rather have him on our team than their's. And imagine...."THE BIG SHOW" in Melbourne on a Friday or Saturday night. Bring a few extra members into the club and a few extra supporters through the gate me thinks! Might have cracked 20,000 last week against the Sons!!

Edited May 18, 201312 yr by Rusty Nails

If you don't think Jack Watts would've kicked that, you've got rocks in your head. One of the better kicks in the league.

would Watts have taken that mark.. NO

So, that begs the question. why did you feel it necessary to start this topic?

I'm really sorry Hardtack ....... Should I send proposed topics and their justification to you before I post?

I can be supportive of Jack and disappointed at what we are getting from him at the same time....It's like a microcosm of being a Dees supporter.

When people look through the 5 minute highlight reel that is Nic Nat they find a player who still plays like he did at U18's. Hates body contact in the ruck and doesn't know where to go when the ball is being moved around. Goldstein took him apart in that game against North. At least WCE can swing Cox back into the ruck when it starts to look ugly.

That said, he is streets ahead of Watts in terms of development and probably overall skill.

Neither of them remotely comes up to the standard, output, guts, or skill of Daniel Rich taken at number 3 in the same draft.

That's is where the comparisons should be made.

When people look through the 5 minute highlight reel that is Nic Nat they find a player who still plays like he did at U18's. Hates body contact in the ruck and doesn't know where to go when the ball is being moved around. Goldstein took him apart in that game against North. At least WCE can swing Cox back into the ruck when it starts to look ugly.

That said, he is streets ahead of Watts in terms of development and probably overall skill.

Neither of them remotely comes up to the standard, output, guts, or skill of Daniel Rich taken at number 3 in the same draft.

That's is where the comparisons should be made.

Minor correction: Rich actually went at 7 in that draft. Hill, Hartlett, Hurley and Yarran all went before him.

I'm really sorry Hardtack ....... Should I send proposed topics and their justification to you before I post?

I can be supportive of Jack and disappointed at what we are getting from him at the same time....It's like a microcosm of being a Dees supporter.

Close but no cigar! You are just reprising an old topic re the comparison between Nic Nat and Watts... why not use the search function and add your thoughts to the existing topic? You didn't even mention Jack in your opening post... you were simply insinuating that Nic Nat was the better pick.

If you were really supportive of Jack Watts you would not be starting a topic that insinuates we erred by not taking Naitanui... if you were expressing disappointment about Jack Watts, you could have created a post (or added to one of the many already in existence) that discussed that disappointment without that tired old Naitanui/Jack Watts comparison.

As rpfc so rightly expressed in the first response to your post: "which well worn point am I?".

They are all old topics.....

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again, there is nothing new under the sun. Ec1:9

....and if you reckon you can read my mind that's fantastic.

BTW I won't need the cigar... but maybe you should spark one up...might help you relax...