On 11/03/2018 at 12:00 PM, ProDee said:

Rocking up to his 9th season (2017) he was still half dedicated to the cause.

He'd run out of time.  The right decision was made.

Best you let it go.

I’m trying to let it go, and I’m happy to stop talking about it and generally I’m excited about the season ahead. However, I don’t think our club is perfect, mistakes can still be made and to this point in time it looks to me that trading a quality player, who was desperate to stay and perform for our club, who can play in a role we are short staffed in (Tom McDonalds foot says hi), seems a bad decision. I won’t be providing round by round commentary, I’ll get on with the business of barracking hard for our dees, but if Jack contributes to Port finishing higher than us at the end of the season I will be very very angry about what a lot of us felt was the wrong decision at the time. If we do better without him I’ll happily admit I was wrong.

On 11/03/2018 at 12:09 PM, Wiseblood said:

I hate this line of reasoning.

We have a list full of blokes who are professionals, great guys and great clubmen.  Why does Jack get held on some sort of pedestal while others aren't?  

As PD mentioned above, he still couldn't turn up to pre-season training in good nick or with the right dedication to the cause in his 9th season.  How many more chances did he need?  He had run out and the right decision was made for all involved.

On a pedestal!! My word! No player in MFC history has been more readily thrown to the wolves, no-one has been criticised more often or more publicly and no-one has had the earliest part of their career more badly managed. 

Go back to Misso’s pre-season report last year, he says that 4-5 players had rocked up under done but generally the vast majority of players were well prepared. Of those 4-5 Jack was the only player thrown to the media. The other 3-4 remain anonymous, far from being placed on a pedestal Jack has been our scapegoat, often unfairly.

Jack played a great first half of the season not only playing various forward roles but battling well in the ruck when we were struck down with injury. His hamstring hurt him for the rest of the season but he was one of the very few to turn up to play against Collingwood in round 23 and yet because he was traded he has been described on here as everything from terrible and soft to a culture killer!! Classic scapegoating.

Despite all of that the bloke was still loyal to the end and wanted to stay and perform for our dees! 

I’ve made my point, I will stop banging on about it. I hope to be proven wrong by MFC doing better than Port, but with a thin KPF line getting thinner by the day I think we will miss JW and some on here should show more respect to someone who stayed loyal and bled red and blue despite being hung out to dry during the worst times.

Edited March 12, 20187 yr by deejammin'

13 minutes ago, deejammin' said:

I’m trying to let it go, and I’m happy to stop talking about it and generally I’m excited about the season ahead. However, I don’t think our club is perfect, mistakes can still be made and to this point in time it looks to me that trading a quality player, who was desperate to stay and perform for our club, who can play in a role we are short staffed in (Tom McDonalds foot says hi), seems a bad decision. I won’t be providing round by round commentary, I’ll get on with the business of barracking hard for our dees, but if Jack contributes to Port finishing higher than us at the end of the season I will be very very angry about what a lot of us felt was the wrong decision at the time. If we do better without him I’ll happily admit I was wrong.

If you appreciated his departure was about more than just his deeds on a footy field I think you'd find it far easier to accept. 

He was a half dedicated footballer.  His standards weren't elite.  He didn't do all of the extras that the great players do to be the best they can be.  And worse than that he came back from preseason not as conditioned as he should have been. 

Your gripe isn't with the Melbourne Football Club, your gripe is with Jack Watts. 

5 minutes ago, ProDee said:

If you appreciated his departure was about more than just his deeds on a footy field I think you'd find it far easier to accept. 

He was a half dedicated footballer.  His standards weren't elite.  He didn't do all of the extras that the great players do to be the best they can be.  And worse than that he came back from preseason not as conditioned as he should have been. 

Your gripe isn't with the Melbourne Football Club, your gripe is with Jack Watts. 

His standards looked fine during his two outstanding years under Paul Roos and during the first half of last season while carrying the ruck. They also look very fine this pre-season with Port Adelaide. My gripe is with the MFC trading away a valuable player we didn’t have to. Let’s wait and see, you may be right, we may improve out of sight and PA fail. I hope so! If that happens I will happily make a big mea culpa publicly to you on this board. Will you do the same if our forwardline is decimated and we fail to out do Port or make finals? 

Edited March 12, 20187 yr by deejammin'

1 hour ago, deejammin' said:

They also look very fine this pre-season with Port Adelaide. My gripe is with the MFC trading away a valuable player we didn’t have to.

They didn’t look very fine. He had a stinker in JLT1 and had a good outing against Adelaide (although Adelaide’s defence was poor). 

I liked the bloke but as a player he wasn’t going to take our club forward, it was time for everyone to move on.

Edited March 13, 20187 yr by Ethan Tremblay

4 hours ago, deejammin' said:

I’m trying to let it go, and I’m happy to stop talking about it and generally I’m excited about the season ahead. However, I don’t think our club is perfect, mistakes can still be made and to this point in time it looks to me that trading a quality player, who was desperate to stay and perform for our club, who can play in a role we are short staffed in (Tom McDonalds foot says hi), seems a bad decision. I won’t be providing round by round commentary, I’ll get on with the business of barracking hard for our dees, but if Jack contributes to Port finishing higher than us at the end of the season I will be very very angry about what a lot of us felt was the wrong decision at the time. If we do better without him I’ll happily admit I was wrong.

On a pedestal!! My word! No player in MFC history has been more readily thrown to the wolves, no-one has been criticised more often or more publicly and no-one has had the earliest part of their career more badly managed. 

Go back to Misso’s pre-season report last year, he says that 4-5 players had rocked up under done but generally the vast majority of players were well prepared. Of those 4-5 Jack was the only player thrown to the media. The other 3-4 remain anonymous, far from being placed on a pedestal Jack has been our scapegoat, often unfairly.

Jack played a great first half of the season not only playing various forward roles but battling well in the ruck when we were struck down with injury. His hamstring hurt him for the rest of the season but he was one of the very few to turn up to play against Collingwood in round 23 and yet because he was traded he has been described on here as everything from terrible and soft to a culture killer!! Classic scapegoating.

Despite all of that the bloke was still loyal to the end and wanted to stay and perform for our dees! 

I’ve made my point, I will stop banging on about it. I hope to be proven wrong by MFC doing better than Port, but with a thin KPF line getting thinner by the day I think we will miss JW and some on here should show more respect to someone who stayed loyal and bled red and blue despite being hung out to dry during the worst times.

It was Watts out and Lever in, quite simply, that was the strategy. It was put into place and implemented

Wattsy may kick 100 goals for Port, he was never going to do it at the MFC, Why? Because he was too comfortable, by going to Port he has to swim to get paid. 

Will he do it?

Edited March 13, 20187 yr by Sir Why You Little

He averaged a goal a game for us (or close to it) yet after a JLT game he is being talked up as a scoring machine.

Footy media is such a crock.

Lets see how the Power supporters feel when they see just how hungry he is when the ball is hot. How much he is willing to put in. Run, chase, tackle.

He was traded for a reason (several most likely). He was a nice guy and a good footy player. We have room for neither on 2018.

3 hours ago, deejammin' said:

His standards looked fine during his two outstanding years under Paul Roos and during the first half of last season while carrying the ruck. They also look very fine this pre-season with Port Adelaide. My gripe is with the MFC trading away a valuable player we didn’t have to. Let’s wait and see, you may be right, we may improve out of sight and PA fail. I hope so! If that happens I will happily make a big mea culpa publicly to you on this board. Will you do the same if our forwardline is decimated and we fail to out do Port or make finals? 

I feel like cutting and pasting my comments from months ago, as all I'm doing is rehashing what I've said previously.

Whatever Watts does or doesn't do at Port it was the right decision to move him on.  Goodwin has been at the club for 3 years, so he knows how much Watts dedicated himself to his football.  The decision to jettison a talented player isn't taken lightly, so Goodwin's belief is that the club and team are better off without him on the list.  I believe it's as much a cultural decision as his insipid efforts on the footy field.  

I believe we're a better chance to win a flag with him off our list.  Fritsch has the courage in the air that Watts doesn't and he's also very good one v one in a contest, which was hardly Watts' forte.  Goodwin knows the message he wants to deliver to the group and talented yet lazy players like Watts, who had a major influence within the playing group due to his outgoing personality (especially impressionable young players), can impede those messages.  

Goodwin didn't get rid of Watts because he thought we'd be worse off.  Obviously, the opposite is true.

It won't be surprising if Watts has a good year.  He's in his peak years and just had a rocket shoved up his clacker.  But he couldn't be trusted to deliver on Goodwin's non negotiables.

And that's the thing to remember here.  He couldn't be trusted.  Trust is huge at a footy club.

Btw, I'm very excited by our forward-line.  Hogan, McDonald, Garlett, Melksham, Fritsch, Hannan, Neal-Bullen with forays from Petracca, Harmes and others is just about as exciting as it gets for me.  X-factor players galore.  I'll be amazed if they collectively don't have a brilliant year, but even if they don't I won't be lamenting the loss of Watts for a nano second.

 

2 hours ago, ProDee said:

I feel like cutting and pasting my comments from months ago, as all I'm doing is rehashing what I've said previously.

Whatever Watts does or doesn't do at Port it was the right decision to move him on.  Goodwin has been at the club for 3 years, so he knows how much Watts dedicated himself to his football.  The decision to jettison a talented player isn't taken lightly, so Goodwin's belief is that the club and team are better off without him on the list.  I believe it's as much a cultural decision as his insipid efforts on the footy field.  

I believe we're a better chance to win a flag with him off our list.  Fritsch has the courage in the air that Watts doesn't and he's also very good one v one in a contest, which was hardly Watts' forte.  Goodwin knows the message he wants to deliver to the group and talented yet lazy players like Watts, who had a major influence within the playing group due to his outgoing personality (especially impressionable young players), can impede those messages.  

Goodwin didn't get rid of Watts because he thought we'd be worse off.  Obviously, the opposite is true.

It won't be surprising if Watts has a good year.  He's in his peak years and just had a rocket shoved up his clacker.  But he couldn't be trusted to deliver on Goodwin's non negotiables.

And that's the thing to remember here.  He couldn't be trusted.  Trust is huge at a footy club.

Btw, I'm very excited by our forward-line.  Hogan, McDonald, Garlett, Melksham, Fritsch, Hannan, Neal-Bullen with forays from Petracca, Harmes and others is just about as exciting as it gets for me.  X-factor players galore.  I'll be amazed if they collectively don't have a brilliant year, but even if they don't I won't be lamenting the loss of Watts for a nano second.

spot on

quite simply we couldn't play hogan, t mac and watts in the same forward line

and i'd much rather have t mac and hogan as tall forwards, and lever down back, than i would have watts in the side