1 hour ago, sue said:

Come on, it wasn't his choice.

Yep agree very harsh and unfair. 

A great pity for all concerned , but we don't live in a fairytale world!

Jack Watts is a very decent human being!

I'll leave it at that!

We got Fritch from the pick we used on Watts, it’s turned out well for us as he’s been a good performer for us showing some flexibility and hasn’t looked out of place. 

I feel for Jack, he’s got plenty of mates at Melbourne and I’m sure he’s happy for them but he would also be feeling like he went through all those tough years with us constantly being the whipping boy only to be traded just when we’re going to make the finals. 

He deserves to experience finals as much as anyone on our list. 

5 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Yep agree very harsh and unfair. 

A great pity for all concerned , but we don't live in a fairytale world!

Jack Watts is a very decent human being!

I'll leave it at that!

You're all carrying on like he insulted his family or something. Lighten up 

7 minutes ago, Pates said:

We got Fritch from the pick we used on Watts, it’s turned out well for us as he’s been a good performer for us showing some flexibility and hasn’t looked out of place. 

I feel for Jack, he’s got plenty of mates at Melbourne and I’m sure he’s happy for them but he would also be feeling like he went through all those tough years with us constantly being the whipping boy only to be traded just when we’re going to make the finals. 

He deserves to experience finals as much as anyone on our list. 

No he doesn’t. Lovely good guy, but he didn’t work hard enough. 

 

8 minutes ago, Pates said:

We got Fritch from the pick we used on Watts, it’s turned out well for us as he’s been a good performer for us showing some flexibility and hasn’t looked out of place. 

I feel for Jack, he’s got plenty of mates at Melbourne and I’m sure he’s happy for them but he would also be feeling like he went through all those tough years with us constantly being the whipping boy only to be traded just when we’re going to make the finals. 

He deserves to experience finals as much as anyone on our list. 

I reckon he will be in the crowd at our first final supporting our team as this is the type of person he is. 

Lets be serious though..

The way our half forwards crash and tackle with such high intensity, there is no way Jack Watts would have fitted into that forward line at all.

There is a pattern in the Simon Goodwin game style this year and hence why Jeff Garlett has struggled this year. Even Fritsch for someone so skinny will courageously fly across packs and go for those marks.

I look at someone like Sam Weideman yesterday and some of his tackling and pack marking was something i never saw from Jack Watts at all from his career.

He would not have been in our best 22 yesterday. 

1 minute ago, DemonOX said:

I reckon he will be in the crowd at our first final supporting our team as this is the type of person he is. 

Agree. Wattsy will be there supporting the Demons and supporting his mates 

17 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Yep agree very harsh and unfair. 

A great pity for all concerned , but we don't live in a fairytale world!

Jack Watts is a very decent human being!

I'll leave it at that!

Yeah look I'll put my hand up there, a bad joke. My opinion doesn't change but it wasn't nice.

You do crazy things after breaking a 12 year finals drought

He said about 8 weeks ago that it was around that time he’d be booking his Bali trip at Melbourne, not getting ready for finals. lol that comment aged well. 

He should’ve learnt not to take things for granted after so many years with us. 

 

Anyway I can’t stand Ken Hinkley so eat a bag, Port. 

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Lets be serious though..

The way our half forwards crash and tackle with such high intensity, there is no way Jack Watts would have fitted into that forward line at all.

There is a pattern in the Simon Goodwin game style this year and hence why Jeff Garlett has struggled this year. Even Fritsch for someone so skinny will courageously fly across packs and go for those marks.

I look at someone like Sam Weideman yesterday and some of his tackling and pack marking was something i never saw from Jack Watts at all from his career.

He would not have been in our best 22 yesterday. 

Agree with this. JW never had courage in the air and I feel he never wanted it enough as some other players. He’ll look back on his career as something that has opened doors for him (such as Skwosh and maybe media related stuff) but I feel that he’ll definitely look back on it with regret at what he could have achieved.

3 hours ago, Wolfturdo said:

You strike me as someone who would have him back in a heartbeat.

Watts was the epitome of everything wrong with the last 12 years at the club. How some MFC fans actually revered him as one of their all time favourite players is beyond me and says a lot about where we've been.

It's become a standard comment to say "the last 12 years", (even Jones said it in his interview with Burgs), because we didn't make finals for that period. But this cub has not been the same since PJ, Bartlett , Taylor and Roos came on board. Whilst improvement has taken time, it's been steady, sustained and sustainable.

Referring to the  last 12 years as though nothing changed until this year is wrong and disrespectful to the efforts of many people, but especially those mentioned above and we should remember that.

4 hours ago, pinkshark said:

I was a big fan.  Thought Goodwin wasn't a fan from the get go. He was harshly treated by the footy club.  A more experienced coach wouldn't have sent him packing.  We would be better with him.

But at least the worst possible scenario I could ever have imagined (him knocking us out of a finals spot/game off his own boot), won't happen this year.  

 

Wrong.  It might be a hard pill to swallow for some, but we're a better team without him.  Making finals this year is proof of that.  

While I stick by my earlier comments that he would be hurting to see us play finals, and I do feel sorry for him that he can't experience that with us, but I don't think he was harshly treated, and nor do I think we would be better with him.  

Not a classy bump.

There are plenty of people over the last ten years who abandoned our club when we needed them, Jack wasn’t one of them.

13 minutes ago, xarronn said:

It's become a standard comment to say "the last 12 years", (even Jones said it in his interview with Burgs), because we didn't make finals for that period. But this cub has not been the same since PJ, Bartlett , Taylor and Roos came on board. Whilst improvement has taken time, it's been steady, sustained and sustainable.

Referring to the  last 12 years as though nothing changed until this year is wrong and disrespectful to the efforts of many people, but especially those mentioned above and we should remember that.

There is a slight problem with your philosophy and that is that no matter what way you want to frame it, we didn’t play finals for 12 years. That’s the reality champ, there’s no KPI for near misses and whether you like it or not that is a period of famine for this club. So we had improvement, great. I can just see Jack Watts’s hall of fame bio now.

“A stand up guy loved by everyone who was part of the infamous ‘improvement’ era at Melbourne FC. Forget Hawthorn’s 3 peat! Consistently dropped for shirking the issue but was great at rocking up to training!”

The more accurate fact is that Jack had 9 of those 12 years to make his mark and didn’t. He was lucky to last as long as he did at Melbourne. Most overrated one season wonder. If he’s hurting, so he should be. It was all in his hands.

14 minutes ago, TeamPlayedFine39 said:

Not a classy bump.

There are plenty of people over the last ten years who abandoned our club when we needed them, Jack wasn’t one of them.

Well I didn’t bump it.

4 minutes ago, Wolfturdo said:

There is a slight problem with your philosophy and that is that no matter what way you want to frame it, we didn’t play finals for 12 years. That’s the reality champ, there’s no KPI for near misses and whether you like it or not that is a period of famine for this club. So we had improvement, great. I can just see Jack Watts’s hall of fame bio now.

“A stand up guy loved by everyone who was part of the infamous ‘improvement’ era at Melbourne FC. Forget Hawthorn’s 3 peat! Consistently dropped for shirking the issue but was great at rocking up to training!”

The more accurate fact is that Jack had 9 of those 12 years to make his mark and didn’t. He was lucky to last as long as he did at Melbourne. Most overrated one season wonder. If he’s hurting, so he should be. It was all in his hands.

My comment is not about Watts. It's about bundling the period since the guys I mentioned joined us with the issues of the previous 7 years. I was drawing attention to that dividing line rather than being critical of you.

By the way, do you feel like a bigger man after that gratuitous smart arxe "champ" comment?

3 hours ago, Wolfturdo said:

You're all carrying on like he insulted his family or something. Lighten up 

Yeah pretty uncalled for some of the reactions here. Wayyyy too much sensitivity!

20 minutes ago, layzie said:

Well I didn’t bump it.

Um... great...

31 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

Wrong.  It might be a hard pill to swallow for some, but we're a better team without him.  Making finals this year is proof of that.  

While I stick by my earlier comments that he would be hurting to see us play finals, and I do feel sorry for him that he can't experience that with us, but I don't think he was harshly treated, and nor do I think we would be better with him.  

Yep, us missing finals last year was all his fault. ?

Ponder this: he was easily our best kick for goal in the team, and we’ve had multiple games decided by poor kicking on goal.

I’m not saying necessarily saying we’d be a better team with him, but there are qualities we lost when we traded him. What we gained was a player with more commitment, which I am happy with. 

At the end of the day Goodwin demands more accountability of his forwards, which Watts wasn’t up to providing.

14 minutes ago, xarronn said:

My comment is not about Watts. It's about bundling the period since the guys I mentioned joined us with the issues of the previous 7 years. I was drawing attention to that dividing line rather than being critical of you.

By the way, do you feel like a bigger man after that gratuitous smart arxe "champ" comment?

Mate it’s 12 years since this club made September. However you want to package it up is entirely up to you, but history is all there to see

2 minutes ago, Pates said:

Yep, us missing finals last year was all his fault. ?

Ponder this: he was easily our best kick for goal in the team, and we’ve had multiple games decided by poor kicking on goal.

I’m not saying necessarily saying we’d be a better team with him, but there are qualities we lost when we traded him. What we gained was a player with more commitment, which I am happy with. 

At the end of the day Goodwin demands more accountability of his forwards, which Watts wasn’t up to providing.

And who would you drop out of the side this year, to make way for Watts??

4 minutes ago, Pates said:

Yep, us missing finals last year was all his fault. ?

 

That's not what I said, Pates.  Don't put words in my mouth.

My point is simply that, by making finals, we have shown that he wasn't required for us to do so.  I'm not potting the bloke and I've made my feelings clear on it.  But to say we're better with him in the side is not correct.

9 minutes ago, TeamPlayedFine39 said:

Um... great...

Just in case you thought I trawled through the archives to bump it with a dumb joke. 

2 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

And who would you drop out of the side this year, to make way for Watts??

Well Fritch would be the one to go as he’s the one that we got with his pick. Fritch has been good, and has done an admirable job of filling the Lever hole, I would argue Watts would probably have gone down a similar path with first half of year in forward line and then floating in defence to cover Lever’s absence. 

It's still not out of the realms of possibility that Jack Watts could kick a matchwinner in an elimination final against us at the G, i wouldn't be going too early ?