28 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Watts kicks 6 goals in a JLT community game and the posters who wanted to keep him use this as a ‘I told you so’. Wow wee. 

And of course none of those who wanted him gone will say 'I told you so' after any poor performances he makes this year.     

1 minute ago, sue said:

And of course none of those who wanted him gone will say 'I told you so' after any poor performances he makes this year.     

They had their opportunity after his performance in JLT1. I didn’t read any. 

19 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

They had their opportunity after his performance in JLT1. I didn’t read any. 

I'm sure I saw some.  In any case, a flat performance is unlikely to attract as much 'enthusiasm'  as a 6 goal match so it's not surprising that 'opportunity' didn't create a whole thread.  But I bet we'll see some video clips of dropped easy marks etc during the year if he's still exciting interest in Dland. 

The best the rest of us can hope for is that his performance (or better, ours) is such that nether side feels the need to indulge in 'I told you so'.  

7 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Watts may conceivably win the Brownlow, win the Norm Smith Medal and the Coleman medal with Port Adelaide this year. All that matters though, is whether he would have performed to that standard if he had stayed with us. The evidence to date suggests that he would not. Hence, the club decided it was time for him to move on. Will I feel shortchanged if he stars for PA? Maybe, but my chagrin will be not for trading him, but for woefully mismanaging him in the early years.  

I think it's a stretch to say that a 26 year old player of Watts' type wouldn't have performed at his peak in a Melbourne jumper this year. Look at his 2016 year. He was trending in the right direction. 2017 was injury affected as we know.

We put 9 years of development into him with all the patience and hair tearing, only to palm him off right when he's about to enter his best few years of football. It was a bold decision to say the least.  

The main solace is that we look to have replaced him with another kid who has serious natural ability.

7 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Watts kicks 6 goals in a JLT community game and the posters who wanted to keep him use this as a ‘I told you so’. Wow wee. 

Agree, this will never be resolved between the keep him brigade and the send him to purgatory mob. Although, I reckon there are a few more fence sitters today.

The judgement will rest and fall on the success or failure of the MFC or PA, and Watt's own performance. I was one of the keep him brigade, however, with his departure it feels like a veil has been lifted from the club. 

I will be one surprised lad if he has a stellar year after 9 years with the Demons and PA make the Granny. If his form is not up to scratch, the PA fans will make mincemeat out of him. A very unforgiving mob. 

2 hours ago, P-man said:

I think it's a stretch to say that a 26 year old player of Watts' type wouldn't have performed at his peak in a Melbourne jumper this year.

1

A 26 year old player of Watts' type wouldn't have performed at his peak in a Melbourne jumper this year.

Any more than he did last year.

1 hour ago, hemingway said:

The judgement will rest and fall on the success or failure of the MFC or PA, and Watt's own performance.

No it won't, because even if he performs well at PA, you can't assume that he would have done the same at Melbourne.

20 minutes ago, bing181 said:

A 26 year old player of Watts' type wouldn't have performed at his peak in a Melbourne jumper this year.

Any more than he did last year.

Why? How can you posssibly rule it out that unequivocally? Tell me it’s a reason outside of the pressure of being the number one draft.

Last year was injury interrupted. Not the best means of assessment. What did you think of his year before that?

Ugh. I’m slipping into another Watts vortex and he’s not even a Melbourne player anymore. I’ll let you have the last word.

Edited March 13, 20187 yr by P-man

21 hours ago, P-man said:

Why? How can you posssibly rule it out that unequivocally? Tell me it’s a reason outside of the pressure of being the number one draft.

Last year was injury interrupted. Not the best means of assessment. What did you think of his year before that?

Ugh. I’m slipping into another Watts vortex and he’s not even a Melbourne player anymore. I’ll let you have the last word.

True, but if I understand correctly, it's would appear to be his less than professional approach to rehab from that injury which finally convinced the club that it was time for the club and him to part ways. 

On 13 March 2018 at 8:40 AM, bing181 said:

A 26 year old player of Watts' type wouldn't have performed at his peak in a Melbourne jumper this year.

Any more than he did last year.

A big call.  As a couple of others have suggested, he was travelling pretty well for much of last season.  Anyway, he's gone now and I hope that the FD will have a real good look at what happened and try to improve the way in which we deal with talented, intelligent players of his ilk.  There is no single approach which works with all types of players and, in Watts' case, whatever they decided to do simply didn't work as well as we (and he, I suspect) would have hoped.  There is a great need for players that have limited imagination, who can follow instructions and inspire by example.  There is also a need for the type of player with an appropriate skill-set that can recognise an obscured opportunity and grasp it.  These players are more difficult to counter because they are less predictable.  An appropriate mix of both types would hopefully produce winning football.  Occasionally, one player will be a mixture of both (e.g. Dangerfield, Ablett Jnr).  It will be interesting to see who emerges to fill this apparent void.

 

Can this thread (and thread title) be used for all Jack Watts related correspondence for the rest of his career?

 

Just your one stop shop for all Jack Watts.

10 hours ago, Jimcor2 said:

A big call.  As a couple of others have suggested, he was travelling pretty well for much of last season.  Anyway, he's gone now and I hope that the FD will have a real good look at what happened and try to improve the way in which we deal with talented, intelligent players of his ilk.  There is no single approach which works with all types of players and, in Watts' case, whatever they decided to do simply didn't work as well as we (and he, I suspect) would have hoped.  There is a great need for players that have limited imagination, who can follow instructions and inspire by example.  There is also a need for the type of player with an appropriate skill-set that can recognise an obscured opportunity and grasp it.  These players are more difficult to counter because they are less predictable.  An appropriate mix of both types would hopefully produce winning football.  Occasionally, one player will be a mixture of both (e.g. Dangerfield, Ablett Jnr).  It will be interesting to see who emerges to fill this apparent void.

 

16 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

Pay that one Wise!

On 3/13/2018 at 9:02 AM, deejammin' said:

Geez a second or third key forward who can kick 6 goals and give off a few would be handy if Tom McDonalds foot injury keeps him out for an extended period...

I said it when we traded him and I see no reason to change, it was a silly decision to trade away a talented player capable of playing as a second or third forward when our KPF stocks are so thin. We are now down to Hogan and Pederson for round one, any bad luck with injury or suspension and we will be forced to play Weiderman or Smith. I hope those guys play as well as Jack will for Port or we’ll look very, very silly.....

Best return from Jack in a real game? 4 goals

You'd be the kind of person still waiting for Col Sylvia to have a good pre-season.....

11 hours ago, Jimcor2 said:

A big call.  As a couple of others have suggested, he was travelling pretty well for much of last season.  Anyway, he's gone now and I hope that the FD will have a real good look at what happened and try to improve the way in which we deal with talented, intelligent players of his ilk.  

 

I agree. I don't want to waste another 9 years on the next great white hope.

 

6 hours ago, jnrmac said:

Best return from Jack in a real game? 4 goals

You'd be the kind of person still waiting for Col Sylvia to have a good pre-season.....

4 goals is a decent return from a second forward who can pinch hit in the ruck. Cameron Pedersen’s best is 3 for example. I think he would’ve been handy backup for Tmac and Cam at the very least. I’ve made my point, we’ll see how it goes. I hope it was the right call.

As for Sylvia I had no qualms with him leaving and was wrapped to get Bernie for him at the time. 

You’re clearly the type of person who plays the man not the ball.

1 hour ago, deejammin' said:

4 goals is a decent return from a second forward who can pinch hit in the ruck. Cameron Pedersen’s best is 3 for example. I think he would’ve been handy backup for Tmac and Cam at the very least. I’ve made my point, we’ll see how it goes. I hope it was the right call.

As for Sylvia I had no qualms with him leaving and was wrapped to get Bernie for him at the time. 

You’re clearly the type of person who plays the man not the ball.

Tom McDonald kick 5 goals in a game last year having trained as a defender for years.

Sam Blease kicked 5 in a game.

I couldn't care if he kicks 10 and wins their B&F.  The MFC outgrew Watts.

Surely even the ‘Keep Watts Camp’ would take Lever over Watts. We weren’t getting Lever if we kept Watts.

17 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Surely even the ‘Keep Watts Camp’ would take Lever over Watts. We weren’t getting Lever if we kept Watts.

Therein is the truth of the matter ET.  We couldn't have both, so Watts had to go - the rest is window dressing!

43 minutes ago, ProDee said:

Tom McDonald kick 5 goals in a game last year having trained as a defender for years.

Sam Blease kicked 5 in a game.

I couldn't care if he kicks 10 and wins their B&F.  The MFC outgrew Watts.

With all due respect, I’ve heard your opinion, you’ve heard mine.

MFC chose to get rid of Watts, we both support them and hope it was the right decision. We’ll see what happens with the season ahead.

For what it’s worth though if you don’t care what Watts does/has done you had decided you just wanted him gone then I’m not sure you’re in a position to judge objectively whether it was the right move or not. I’ll happily stop posting on this now, there’s many other exciting things for us to talk about, hopefully even agree on.

47 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Surely even the ‘Keep Watts Camp’ would take Lever over Watts. We weren’t getting Lever if we kept Watts.

There’s no truth to this. Mahoney said as much during trade week,  we could have easily paid both salaries and kept both. We’re still paying a proportion of Watts’ salary on top of paying Fritsch a base listed player salary. There’s is a small amount saved but not enough to be the difference between getting Lever and not. Ask anyone from the club, it is categorically not true.

Stunned the club didn’t publicly state they were trading Watts to being in Lever..

Edited March 15, 20187 yr by Ethan Tremblay

Paul Connors was positioning his client the best way he could after MFC publicly trashed Watt’s reputation during trade period. If this was the reason the club would’ve used it to appease fans like me. They didn’t, because it’s not true. Go to a members function and ask any of the list management team, they will openly tell you as much. The reasons ProDee has stated are the reasons he was let go, Lever has nothing to do with it.

FMD this thread is still going??!!

4 minutes ago, deejammin' said:

Paul Connors was positioning his client the best way he could after MFC publicly trashed Watt’s reputation during trade period. If this was the reason the club would’ve used it to appease fans like me. They didn’t, because it’s not true. Go to a members function and ask any of the list management team, they will openly tell you as much. The reasons ProDee has stated are the reasons he was let go, Lever has nothing to do with it.

He did have something to do with it, even if it was indirectly.

Getting Lever on a large contract meant that something had to give - we still have a number of players to sign and the salary cap will probably be tight.  We obviously wanted to move Watts on, but in doing so it freed up some of the cap room that we gave up to sign Lever.  It will no doubt help in our quest to re-sign all the young players going forward, even if it's just in the short term.

Keeping both Lever and Watts wasn't an option, so Lever played a role, even if it was small, in helping to move Watts to Port Adelaide.