That is a terrible "article." The author is quoting Cleary and attempting to make it sound like he is quoting Goody. No other reason for it being written that way except for it being full of [censored]. I have no doubt the information has come from here.

39 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

I have no doubt the information has come from here. 

That rests on the assumption that journos read every single post on every single fan forum. 

I'm sure they monitor these sites, particularly at trade time, but there were only a handful of posts here which followed the original, and that was in the post-match discussion thread. Why would a reporter even bother wading through all that? What would they be hoping to find? 

I think people on here over-state the extent to which journos read and re-hash what they read on Demonland and other fan forums. 

Prodee thinks it's true. That's good enough for me. What more do we need?

It doesn't take long for rumours to circulate, Cleary didn't necessarily have to read it online himself. If there were any truth to the article it wouldn't have been written the way it was.

Mischief's afoot , eh Watt'son ??

 

3 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

Prodee thinks it's true. That's good enough for me. What more do we need?

I think I've made it clear that I don't give a flying zzzz what anyone else thinks.

If you don't believe it good on you.  It concerns me not. 

6 minutes ago, ProDee said:

I think I've made it clear that I don't give a flying zzzz what anyone else thinks.

If you don't believe it good on you.  It concerns me not. 

Your continual replies say otherwise Benny, which is nice to know.

9 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

Your continual replies say otherwise Benny, which is nice to know.

I've only replied to comments directed at me.   Such as yours.  You're more interested in me than I am in you, which is why you would have quoted me 500 more times than I've ever quoted you.  It's not lost on me.

Look, how do I put this nicely, the broader populace are morons, so it would be folly for me to be concerned by their views.

2 minutes ago, ProDee said:

I've only replied to comments directed at me.   Such as yours.  You're more interested in me than I am in you, which is why you would have quoted me 500 more times than I've ever quoted you.  It's not lost on me.

Look, how do I put this nicely, the broader populace are morons, so it would be folly for me to be concerned by their views.

That wasn't very nice!

9 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

That wasn't very nice!

It's OK WYL, we should be grateful for the wise words of Benny, words based upon rumour thus far.

3 hours ago, Seraph said:

He's been right into the pies over summer, clearly. 

I didn't think of pies and skinfolds when the rumour was mentioned 

7 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

It's OK WYL, we should be grateful for the wise words of Benny, words based upon rumour thus far.

Yes i wait for the Coaches word before i believe too much

there are 3 practise matches. I doubt many will play all 3

1 hour ago, ProDee said:

Apparently, a sports journo would spread a rumour from a poster on a fan forum and pretend it's his own.  People actually believe this is more likely than him having a source connected to the club.

Apparently, training reports from boundary supporters are a legitimate source  of whether this report is true or not.

Apparently, if Watts plays well on Sunday, or in round one, there can't be any validity to this story, because the subsequent weeks/months wouldn't be enough for him to get his fitness to an acceptable level.

No wonder the Greens get votes.

Points 2 and 3 I agree with but point 1 I can definitely see happening. Hell Robbo does it and he's the leading footy journo of the biggest paper in the state, I don't think it's beyond a young and/or relatively unknown journo to pick up something and run with it. Whether it's true or not it eats up airtime and they'll hope to provoke a response from the club which they can then discuss and analyse and the media just keeps feeding off itself.

34 minutes ago, ProDee said:

I've only replied to comments directed at me.   Such as yours.  You're more interested in me than I am in you, which is why you would have quoted me 500 more times than I've ever quoted you.  It's not lost on me.

Look, how do I put this nicely, the broader populace are morons, so it would be folly for me to be concerned by their views.

Haha - [censored], I love you!

He looks in pretty good shape in the photos. 

 

1 hour ago, ProDee said:

I think I've made it clear that I don't give a flying zzzz what anyone else thinks.

If you don't believe it good on you.  It concerns me not. 

Then why post anything? Just admit your trying to feed your own ego, you'll feel better for it.

So, to summarise -

Some guy called Mitch Clearly ( who was given a <100 article space online to share it) reckons Watts is in the naughty corner and his 'round one place is in jeopardy'.

ProDee, who is on record as maniacally obsessed with how much Watts sucks balls, is really into this and also reckons the rest of the world in general are morons and probably vote green.

Everyone else is offering a mix of 'wait and see, I'm not going to jump at a rumour' or 'hang on, he's been looking fit and engaged in all the training'.

I guess we wait and see.

Will ProDee have to have Watts as his avatar for another year? Only time will tell!

 

4 hours ago, ProDee said:

Unlike trade rumours these types that go to air by a sports show invariably have reasonable elements of truth to them.

But as I've previously stated, if posters don't want to believe their darling has come back from the preseason in anything less than A-one condition they can.

Having posted hear for 15 years it's fair to say I have a healthy disregard for the views of most.

Which makes some of us wonder why you post at all......

Ah, my apologies. It's because you like to share your superior wit with the less fortunate.

 

ProDee, you would be much more readable, without the overt condescension. 

4 hours ago, Seraph said:

He's been right into the pies over summer, clearly. 

Looks like he fresh back from a stint working on the Burma Railroad.

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Points 2 and 3 I agree with but point 1 I can definitely see happening. Hell Robbo does it and he's the leading footy journo of the biggest paper in the state, I don't think it's beyond a young and/or relatively unknown journo to pick up something and run with it. Whether it's true or not it eats up airtime and they'll hope to provoke a response from the club which they can then discuss and analyse and the media just keeps feeding off itself.

I don't know why everyone finds this so hard to believe, stuff like this happens. I'm sure he will be back in the next week or two. Most likely getting a kick up the ass that he probably needs. 

Mitch Cleary is Damo's right hand man and works with channel nine. I would be confident in his info being on the money.

What we have is:

-'Leoncelli36' (I think) in the post game thread said Watts was 'punished' for his attitude (no mention of poor condition).  It was also mentioned in the 'Who was Missing' thread.  To give 'Leoncelli36' credit he referred to his source's mfc connections and reliabilty.

-This Cleary guy (from Perth) embellishes it adding Jack came back unfit; no sources but alludes to Goodwin. 

For mine, all our DL training reporters can't be wrong when they said Watts came back in great nick.  However, in one thread (the intra club, I think) one or two posters were disappointed Jack wasn't really having a go. 

So there may be some truth in Leoncelli36's info on Jack's attitude but there has been nothing from anywhere to support the Cleary embellishments on lack of fitness. 

To say Jack was being punished is a stretch.  But, lets assume Goodwin thought it necessary, then I say: hooray for Goodwin!  It is exactly what I expect of a coach if a player, any player does not show the behaviour expected. 

8 hours ago, Grapeviney said:

That rests on the assumption that journos read every single post on every single fan forum. 

I'm sure they monitor these sites, particularly at trade time, but there were only a handful of posts here which followed the original, and that was in the post-match discussion thread. Why would a reporter even bother wading through all that? What would they be hoping to find? 

I think people on here over-state the extent to which journos read and re-hash what they read on Demonland and other fan forums. 

Personally I feel that there is likely to be an element of truth to it.  There is the rumour itself.  Then it is corroborated by Watts not playing against the dogs with no explanation pre game and further corroborated by the Watts omission in the Goodwin post game presser.

Whether he is in "poor shape" or if it is a gentle reminder to the player and the rest of the list that certain standards need to be met after some lesser digression.

I don't know that we will ever know with any certainty.

We certainly have a lot more good news than usual and if a player has digressed slightly it shouldn't curtail the enjoyment of what should be a great season of footy for the MFC. 

9 hours ago, monoccular said:

Fact? Speculation? [censored] stirring?

Humour

6 hours ago, Watts the matter said:

I don't know why everyone finds this so hard to believe, stuff like this happens. I'm sure he will be back in the next week or two. Most likely getting a kick up the ass that he probably needs. 

Mitch Cleary is Damo's right hand man and works with channel nine. I would be confident in his info being on the money.

We all know that Damo scours fan forums.

We know how much Damo loves to hate the Dees! 

Any chance Damo gets to stick the boots in he does it. 

There is no hint of evidence/quotes that Cleary has seen Jack, been to training or talked to coaches.  So Cleary is relying on second hand info...from Damo?  Damo, who probably got half of it form DL then embellished it. 

I rest my case as to why Cleary is not credible!!

slow news week??

5 weeks out for the season, Watts who had done the whole preseason and looked in great shape was not played in a practice match.

wow

worst case - he has slacked off a bit and Goody is giving him a kick up the backside in preseason to maintain high standards.  which is a great move by Goody. Watts will never have the drive of a T Mac or Viney so he needs to be pushed