Jack Watts' Game

[dee-luded 2,959]

11 hours ago, Demonated said:

Ok, I'll start by recognising I'm not a regular poster but a very regular reader, but I don't want to discuss where Watts went in the draft, how hard he is at the contest or what we think he will become. I don't want to discuss how we think he has turned out after all these years or how he should be playing right now.

 

I am a demon fan as you are all obviously on this page. We have all seen Watts play very well at times and very bad at times. We are reluctant to give him credit while we will give Hogan, Oliver, Gawn et al the praise they deserve. I just want to say that while you are all celebrating that not quite convincing win, I'd like us all to acknowledge the impact he had in the last quarter. As much as Hogan lifted, make not mistake, Jack Watts, our favourite whipping boy, won us that game. Not Salem, not Petracca, not Brayshaw, not Jones. We might give him a bit but we know we love him.

Watts just won us a game as the underdogs. Think about saying this a year ago, it sounds ridiculous. You want to know what makes it more crazy? He has a history of going to water after he loses his confidence. He and the whole team lost it in the 2nd quarter. For the first time in his career he took charge. I truely believe that something has changed. He set the tone in the last quarter. I want to talk about this but if there is already a thread or discussion, feel free to merge or delete.

"Jack Watts, our favourite whipping boy".... rubbish.  Jack watts wouldn't chase tackle or do the physical things we all wanted to see from him as he developed !!!  & so he deserved aevery bit of flack he copped back then.

 

I watched him a number of times going to nab cup games specifically to check him out before the draft. 

He was playing as he did yesterday,  but as an under 18 yr old obviously.

 

I wanted us to draft Wattsy ahead of NicNat,  for this reason.  I saw him a s a 2nd tall (mobile), non muscle-bound type,  mobile goal kicker.  So a 2nd or 3rd tall forward type who could also drift into midfield when his body grew, like Nick Riewoldt,  but I wanted Wattsy to operate in goal range.

He was very disappointing in his past years.

 

Jack is only now playing the way he should hav been playing as he grew.  well before now.   its not hard to run to chase an opponent.  its not difficult to want to tackle an opponent.

 

....  so NOW the way Jack played yesterday,  from the snippets I saw on the CH-7 sports news vision,  he was fantastic...  exactly what I expected him to do from seeing him in NAB cup.  nothing more or less.

 

Well done Jack Watts, Fantastic..  and Congratulations........   now you Jack,  explain to us why you didn't do this before.

[What 18,810]

how do i insert a .webm  file?

Made some sweet Watts gifs

Edited March 27, 2016 by Petraccattack

[Maldonboy38 6,390]

I wanted him gone at the end of last year and couldn't find a place in my starting 22 before round 1. His good was excellent but his bad was very, very poor. With the ball he has skills few have, but his getting the ball was often weak and timid. 

But that is not the Jack I saw yesterday.  Contested marks, sprintng away from the contest, and actually MAKING the play, not waiting to feed off someone else making the play. I am so stoked that I was wrong about him. Now I want to see it in rounds 2, 3 and so on...

[Phadraig 760]

6 minutes ago, Petraccattack said:

how do i insert a .webm  file?

Made some sweet Watts gifs

Put the direct image link between [ img]linkhere[ /img] (no spaces)

Edited March 27, 2016 by Rafiki

[daisycutter 29,604]

Just now, Petraccattack said:

 

Doesnt work mate,  as .webm files are video files i believe

try just doing as for a vid link. i.e. just paste url and then enter.

[Phadraig 760]

2 minutes ago, Petraccattack said:

 

Doesnt work mate,  as .webm files are video files i believe

Might be easier to just convert it to a .gif, you can use this site: https://cloudconvert.com/webm-to-gif

[What 18,810]

51 minutes ago, Rafiki said:

Put the direct image link between [ img]linkhere[ /img] (no spaces)

Worked it out.  if anyone has any gif requests let me know... can do them without the cheesy captions I added on

 

 

Edited March 27, 2016 by Petraccattack

[Undeeterred 3,123]

5 hours ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

And about bloody time too. I have often led the charge against Watts and was hoping he was traded last year. Having said that I have always maintained he has elite disposal and reads the play better than most but his reluctance to attack the contest meant that it all counted for nothing. He's had a great pre season and yesterday was a break out game for him in his 7th season. Now compare that to Weitering's game on Thursday night playing in a side that resemble the Demons of years ago. Yesterday is now the minimum standard, yes he'll have the odd bad game but we need more of what we saw in the last qtr. Would love to know what clicked for him, considering this is his 3 year under Roos I'm starting to think maybe McCartney or Goodwin.

I love how many people who are just unrelentingly anti-Watts always pipe up with something like 'oh, well, I've always maintained he has elite disposal' when he plays well.

Get your hand off it and stop having two bob each way.

[monoccular 17,413]

7 hours ago, DeeZee said:

Jacks always had brilliance ,tremendous vision and silly skills,and the only thing that was lacking was the aggression and the contested work.

It looks like he has addressed that over the summer and looks like no flash in the pan as he has been consistently good four games in a row now.

Has the Messiah finally risen?

 

He actually looked as if he enjoyed the contested stuff yesterday - first time I have seen that in him.

[kirstenmac 6]

He has got it 

[PaulRB 6,350]

 

[45HG 1,539]

I find that whenever Jack has a good game many people talk about it as "about time" or "finally" - always conveniently forgetting his last good match.

A career of this and people will only remember one good performance. Perception is sticky, never more so than with Jack Watts.

[At the break of Gawn 4,460]

One thing I noticed about Jack that I haven't seen before was the amount of noise he was making throughout the game. From the goal celebrations to bagging out the opposition during set shots. He was making his presence felt. He seemed to have a buzz of energy. I noticed him and Vince hugged at the start of the game and you could just tell he was pumped and raring to go. 

I will say that the cork really took it out of him and I had almost thought "the old jack watts is back" as he seemed to lack that spark - even though he appeared to be over the pain. But his last qtr was immense and I think it'll give him heaps of belief that you don't have to have a perfect game, but just stand up when it matters. 

I remember thinking that maybe his game in 2014 against the Tigers (he kicked two in the last qtr and won us the game) might have been a break out game for him, but this one feels different.

feels like we've done a 360 on his positioning though. We drafted him as a high forward, played him there a bit, then defence, then wing, and now finally back as a forward - his best position.

[mo64 5,853]

6 minutes ago, 45HG said:

I find that whenever Jack has a good game many people talk about it as "about time" or "finally" - always conveniently forgetting his last good match.

A career of this and people will only remember one good performance. Perception is sticky, never more so than with Jack Watts.

Hardly an inaccurate perception considering the fact that he got dropped last year, and finished 18th in the B&F.

He was outstanding yesterday, as he was throughout the NAB Challenge. Let's hope that he can show that level of intensity each week, because it's been lacking throughout his career.

 

[thesleepinggiant 160]

1 hour ago, dee-luded said:

"Jack Watts, our favourite whipping boy".... rubbish.  Jack watts wouldn't chase tackle or do the physical things we all wanted to see from him as he developed !!!  & so he deserved aevery bit of flack he copped back then.

 

I watched him a number of times going to nab cup games specifically to check him out before the draft. 

He was playing as he did yesterday,  but as an under 18 yr old obviously.

 

I wanted us to draft Wattsy ahead of NicNat,  for this reason.  I saw him a s a 2nd tall (mobile), non muscle-bound type,  mobile goal kicker.  So a 2nd or 3rd tall forward type who could also drift into midfield when his body grew, like Nick Riewoldt,  but I wanted Wattsy to operate in goal range.

He was very disappointing in his past years.

 

Jack is only now playing the way he should hav been playing as he grew.  well before now.   its not hard to run to chase an opponent.  its not difficult to want to tackle an opponent.

 

....  so NOW the way Jack played yesterday,  from the snippets I saw on the CH-7 sports news vision,  he was fantastic...  exactly what I expected him to do from seeing him in NAB cup.  nothing more or less.

 

Well done Jack Watts, Fantastic..  and Congratulations........   now you Jack,  explain to us why you didn't do this before.

Because we had a shizanhousen coaching collective until Roos arrived. Before this  3-4 different coaches i think.

Finally have a great coaching staff who within 2 years have got Jack to where he should be. Is alot fitter and has added strength to his broad frame. 

In Roos 1st yr, JW was pushed off to easily then 2nd grad improvement to now, 2016 can finally launch himself and how far is only between his ears as body is off AFL STANDARD

[Demi Dee 578]

1 hour ago, monoccular said:

 

He actually looked as if he enjoyed the contested stuff yesterday - first time I have seen that in him.

The boys in the forward line are not just standing up for themselves anymore. They're starting to intimidate back lines. The argy bargy was full on, all day. Heater tried, but,Kent, Jeffy, Hoges, Pedo and Watsy broke them. By the end of the last quarter they laughing at them. They'd won. Watts stands much taller with those boys baking him. Who wouldn't. 

[rpfc 28,263]

48 minutes ago, 45HG said:

I find that whenever Jack has a good game many people talk about it as "about time" or "finally" - always conveniently forgetting his last good match.

A career of this and people will only remember one good performance. Perception is sticky, never more so than with Jack Watts.

I am with you there. 

A better poster than I will go through the archives one day and pick out the 5 threads a year from the last 5 years that have announced Watts' late entry onto the the scene of Good Football.

Give me a rest - he has been a contributor of games like that for half a decade now, it is just that it is as regular as his inconsistency.

This "I am glad he has pulled his finger out" nonsense is rich coming from a supporter base that has only seen digit-less players. 

Hopefully, the attention can be shared now among the other 21 players so when Jack has his next shocker we can see the under-performing forest for the inconsistent tree.

[Bombay Airconditioning 6,359]

2 hours ago, Undeeterred said:

I love how many people who are just unrelentingly anti-Watts always pipe up with something like 'oh, well, I've always maintained he has elite disposal' when he plays well.

Get your hand off it and stop having two bob each way.

Clown school, regular posters are aware of my stance on Watts. Most criticism has been centred around Watts refusal to attack the ball/contest. His disposal and footy smarts have never been in doubt, just a refusal to buy into the never ending excuses that were rolled out. 

How are stocks of black and gold margarine in your local supermarket??

Edited March 27, 2016 by Bombay Airconditioning

[Bombay Airconditioning 6,359]

1 hour ago, 45HG said:

I find that whenever Jack has a good game many people talk about it as "about time" or "finally" - always conveniently forgetting his last good match.

A career of this and people will only remember one good performance. Perception is sticky, never more so than with Jack Watts.

Forget?

He was dropped for round 23 last year.

[Bombay Airconditioning 6,359]

At least some posters post what they are actually thinking as opposed to reading through the thread first to get a feel for what might be seen as popular. My personal favourite are the posters who get the knives out when a player asks for a trade or is being shopped around by the club. Trengove being a great example. 

[Adzman 2,154]

Idgaf if I cop heat for this, but Watts was first class against gws. If he could replicate that performance weekly he would probably be considered for AA selection.

[Undeeterred 3,123]

2 hours ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Clown school, regular posters are aware of my stance on Watts. Most criticism has been centred around Watts refusal to attack the ball/contest. His disposal and footy smarts have never been in doubt, just a refusal to buy into the never ending excuses that were rolled out. 

How are stocks of black and gold margarine in your local supermarket??

Sure, but you also take every opportunity to sink the boots in when the opportunity arises, then cloak it in the pretense that you've always thought he was amazing.

You're not the only one, don't get me wrong.

[Mt. Dee-Maaan 607]

i think it's pretty clear that a lot of supporters have been disappointed with watts' effort and consistency on game day, but damnnnn, if he can maintain this new-found passion, hardness and leadership, he won't have a detractor in town! i'd love for him to do well, he deserves it and really seems like a barometer at training and on game-day these days for the other players. looking forward to him feasting on the dons backman this weekend!!! go dees! 

Edited March 27, 2016 by Rocky

[dee-luded 2,959]

5 hours ago, thesleepinggiant said:

Because we had a shizanhousen coaching collective until Roos arrived. Before this  3-4 different coaches i think.

Finally have a great coaching staff who within 2 years have got Jack to where he should be. Is alot fitter and has added strength to his broad frame. 

In Roos 1st yr, JW was pushed off to easily then 2nd grad improvement to now, 2016 can finally launch himself and how far is only between his ears as body is off AFL STANDARD

agreed tsg,  but that would not stop me from putting effort in to help my mates,  even if in spite of coach.

maybe its a different era,  bet effort isn't hard unless your paralysed.  I know too well,  my mum had Polio,  & was under developed down one side.  she had guts,  & love,  & drove herself for her loved ones,  & for herself,  Re her own pride.

 

What I saw was in my mind very disappointing.  Jack let himself down  his teammates at that time down,  & all these supporters who have ached for decades down,  by not showing he cared with some physical effort.  He didn't have to star.  Just show he was trying.

this club has been too soft on its players, & too hard on honest workers.  eg godfrey.  he was a whipping boy. he would stand infront of a train for his team, & work his arze off all game.  maybe not so skilled & for this he was crucified,  whilst we gloated over Yze, Bruce, Robbo & Green...  now where did our hard culture go ??? 

...... it wasn't lost under Bailey, Neeld, & Co. 

It was lost early in the century.  The tail was well & truly wagging around the time of  TJ,  Green,  Robbo, etc...  & continued when we recruited Sylvia & McClean (never developed properly those boys at Melbourne), etc,  then the likes of  Morton,  Bennell,  Gysberts,  (& while some here gloated over these boys),  a young Jetta was being made to feel on the outer,  from our supporters.  (not quick enough, & not skilled enough, hasn't got it) etc...   but he did have it.   I could see it.  He's a footballer !   And I told him so a few times after games at Casey.  That I liked his game,  how he played.

 

It took Roosy to recognise his footy. to persist.

 

No, Jack Watts doesn't have much to whine about.  he was/is the master of his own destiny.  and he had the power to push himself if he wanted to.

Edited March 27, 2016 by dee-luded

[ILLDieADemon 804]

They do say tall players take longer to develop. 

I think everyone on here wants Watts to succeed that's why we are so hard on the bloke. I hope this is the season he arrives as a great Football player.  

But let's face it since he has come to the club we have been rubbish, maybe finally he has the team around him to help him shine as the player he should be.

Edited March 27, 2016 by ILLDieADemon