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I don't want to do this.. Ah who am I kidding. I totally want to do it. By Round 6: But this is even better I think.. So having him leave would have been a culture killer. Having him stay is a culture killer. Literally [censored] either way. Deadset, my 5 year old nephew is less up and down.

People see what they want to see!!! I sat on the IQ last night watching the game pausing at stoppages and when they panned out watching what players were doing and who was picking up who etc Watts was fine... He ran with his man all the time and didn't not put in... Occasionally he should of hit an opponent hard who was shepherding him but he choose to stay on his feet and be involved in the next play, whilst I don't agree with his decision it's obvious that it's a coaching directive to be on the outside... Most of his tackles effected the disposal of the swans player although again I would prefer he ride them to the ground He wasnt great but the response in this thread is of people who have never played the game... A perfect example is cross was 3m behind jack at a stoppage and jack ran from half back to his fwd 50 to kick a goal(1st qtr I think ) ... Cross was 3 to 5 behind him the whole way but couldn't catch him and he turned to watts and said something and people blame watts!!! Watts was running back covering the corridor( what he should have done) and should never of went to jack who just outrun cross but people blame watts!!! It's the same as people watching our mids have 30 touches each and only 31 inside 50s and thinking it was our Fwds who had a bad game!!! Some need to watch the game and the positioning not the stats sheet Rant over

The VFL reviews this year are excellent and are what I've been looking for for years. High five Brett Allison.

The bottom of a pack. A front on tackle. A contested mark. A gut run........

If we stop getting home games against 7 of the 8 non-Vic clubs and start getting regular home games against Essendon, Carlton & Richmond we might have a better chance at becoming self-sufficient.

both those to$$ers knew he would get the gong and are just latching on to the teat

nah...too much logic there for me....I'd rather go with incompetent medical staff.

The talk in this draft is Beam at 29, Hanners at 30 and Sloane at 44. Sloane is the one that got away, apparently we'd promised him we'd take him - then picked Bennell. I remember I was at work at the time, my cousin rang me and said you guys taken Bennell - I said, was Sloane gone? He said no, he went to Adel at 44. I hung up on him when he said we also overlooked Shuey. I would've taken Watts at no 1 though. It was Rich Vs Watts for mine, Rich was the safe pick, I was in WA that year, he was killing WAFL. But, I'd of still risked and taken Watts, it was a risk, it hasn't paid off, but I am not mad at the club for that pick. It is the later picks that have killed us, it is overlooking leaders.. Leaders like Shuey, Parker and Sloane, that have killed us. Strauss was an outside bit player when drafted, taken far too early... Blease was a speculative X factor type - taken ahead of a Vic Metro captain in Shuey, even a great ball user then. It is not development that has killed Melbourne, it is the fact we drafted unproven, speculative players. Gysberts, Cook, they weren't proven. They were ordinary picks and we have payed the price. Back on the 2008 draft, I agree NO ONE in the top 10 has really killed it, but that isn't what has killed us either. Watts isn't what has killed us, it overlooking our needs that have killed us. We needed leaders and ball getters - and we taken speculative stick figures.

Unbelievable that anyone can be so certain how many were 'avoidable'. Stuff happens. It just hurts more when you have no depth.

To be honest, we have been so bad for the last 7-8 years, that having a laugh has been a great distraction.We do discuss footy but it is just so bloody hard when you are crap and the best thing we can say is we will get pick 1 next year. We know that doesn't cure all our problems. Don't blame BBO for the problems of the club, you know he has nothing to do with them. PS. I am guilty of posting crap too, but I promise to stop as soon as we make a GF.

First let me preface this by saying that I have absolutely no knowledge of injury management (let alone physiology, etc), but... is it possible that injury management doesn't even come into the equation on this occasion? Is it possible that no one injury is ever really the same and that recovery will be dependent upon the individual concerned's physical build, genetic make-up (some people seem to naturally heal/recover more quickly than others), mental approach etc - I imagine that injury management will never be an exact science and that there will always be some that will not recover as expected.

Doesn't every thread?

How's Scully escaping the media wrath? Million a year, racking up 15 posses a game. Spud.

Our lack of structure and ineptitude in the first three rounds is an example of that good kpp’s are still important in the modern game. We couldn’t cover for the absence of Clark, Dawes and Hogan, and Fitzpatrick and Pedersen couldn’t cover their absence. Our depth isn't great, and agree that there are too many unknowns with Jesse and Max, who is yet to ruck a full season at AFL level. At this stage though Wright has played more of his football as a forward, and has been dominant at times there. There's still a fair bit of football to be played to assess his potential and worth. Pick one is fairly open this, he could well be overtaken. Besides, I still think (and hope) that we don't finish last this year. If Frawley stays, I hope we take the best available. If it’s Wright, he looks like he has a very solid body for a 202cm kid and is quite quick for his size, with a good tank. I’ve only seen video, so look forward to seeing him play live. Durdin can play across all key positions (back, forward, ruck), so offers the best versatility, if Frawley goes, he might be the KPP draftee I lean towards. I also hope that whomever we pick, competitiveness and aggression is part of that players make up, and of the KPP’s tipped to go high, Goddard seems to display the most aggression (haven’t seen enough of Durdin and Wright to know whether they are competitive beasts or how much aggression they have in their games). I’d be happy with any of those at this stage. If we get a FA compo for Chip, I’d look to split the player types and draft a mid. Really hope Clem Smith pushes himself up into contention for a selection this high. His aggression and thirst for the contest is inspirational and he makes things happen. A quick player who can use the ball, make good decisions AND does the hard stuff is pretty rare. I hope he can show more of a midfield game this year, because he is a point of difference player in this draft. He does have a bit of work to do push himself up that far in the order, but I like the kid.

His average supercoach ranking puts him 11th on the GWS list, who are 14th on the ladder would not be in the best 100 midfielders in the comp and i absolutely love the justice of it

Yes, if he doesn't take a break, he'll go blind and then he'll be of no use to the club at all!

my first football boots were a pair of moulded plastic/rubber Ron Barassi's. I have just recently been to walk again normally 45 years later after wearing those implements of torture.

You'll be at 30k posts in no time.

This issue is much simpler than we're making it. The flowchart goes like this: Is Jack Watts currently in our best 22? If yes, then play him If no, then drop him. It's that simple.

The OP wants to know if you love your current wife, though. I think.

they were talking about it on footy classified last night and Garry threw in the stat about Salem taking 3 marks which is more than what nic nat has taken over the past 4 weeks. people are starting to notice and its about bloody time. Also scully got talked about on the weekend about he he tagged ablett and by now he shouldnt be a tagger he should be an elite midfielder and GWS should not have paid him that money.

lol "Jurrah, Watts, Wonna, now there's a forward line the rest of the competition would [censored] their pants over." "Clarke, Jurrah, Watts, now there's a forward line the rest of the competition would [censored] their pants over." "Dawes, Clark, Howe, Hogan, now there's a forward line the rest of the competition would [censored] their pants over." "Patton, Dawes, Hogen, now there's a...." *head, desk*

Some peanut has played the game and sport at professional level knowing a little bit about injury management and rehab, knows family and friends of Hogan, you have tunnel vision and don't realise we are no different in this respect to any club Please go and do your homework on Richmonds management of Richo's lisfranc injury Geelong with Hawkins back Brisbane with Brown's knee Essendon with Hirds issues with his feet in the late 90's Meth Coast with Natanui's groin issues over the last 2 seasons Freo with Sandilands turf toe and it's recurrence Port managing Hartlett through his early years Reiwoldts management early on after going pick 1

You've got to like how Josh Gibson almost knocked a bloke out and gets less carry over points than Georgiou. It's broken.

Tex walker would be my number 1 target comes out of contract next year Dylan sheil Matt rosa Luke shuey

I'm at the point now where I just don't care about the draft anymore in reference to the number of our first round pick. Look through any draft and you can see the best player being obtained from any number in the top 10, sometimes in the 20's or even 30's. It also takes years for a player to break out and show their full "potential", sometimes they never get there. So really I don't care if we have pick 1, 2 or 3, I will happily see it traded again for another Tyson and Salem. Taking that punt on a pick 1 might get us another Watts, Gibbs or Kruezer all of which have underperformed, or alternatively yes a Murphy or Deledio but it's still a flip of a coin and no certainty for success - just over exaggerated media hype that takes years to determine if the pick comes to fruition. All I ask is that the recruiting department makes well calculated and smart decisions by stacking the odds in their favour (e.g. 2 quality players with high "potential" like Tyson and Salem for 1 with high "potential" player being Kelly). I also ask they rank the players based on talent and output not entirely athletic "potential" (NOTEI love draftees that win a lot of the contested possession as they are more likely to succeed). For years clubs have let players slide because they may consider them a bit too much of a "plodder" like Luke Dunstan, or lack that physical frame like Nathan Fyfe, or will never have a big enough tank to play AFL football like Tom Rockliff - all of which killed their final U18 year. I hope they STOP drafting "smoky's" at relatively important picks like they did last year on Jayden Hunt. Nothing against him but he could have been obtained with our second Rookie pick, using his pick on say an Eli Templeton who was rated quite highly by a range of clubs. Not only do I want the club to get their first pick "right" (there is a greater probability of doing this), I think it is equally if not more important to get those later picks "right" and those that are usually correct are selections of those players that slide due to physical traits like JKH's height or a presumed lack of fitness like T. Rockliff and S. Mitchell that produced highly (excellent stats) during their U18 years.

A little snippet in todays paper - Champion data has a new indicator - "pressure indictor" ( can't remember the exact name of it) - it measures tackles, near tackles, chases and corralling. Guess who's currently rated no 4 in the tall forwards ? - not bad considering he missed the first month of footy and limited preseason. Anyone who thinks that Watts has played better in any of the games that Dawes has played in this year is kidding themselves.

I think this is my first post on a JW thread. I don't know why I am doing it ... I was watching Casey on Sunday getting flogged and watching Nicho try his guts out - hard running, desperation, second and third efforts without the skill to capitalise on them. I couldn't help but to think of the difference between him and JW, one a sublime talent and the other a sublime trier. Of the two of them, who would you draft; Watts in a heartbeat, all clubs would. I remember hearing a quote from Paul Sheehan a few years back when he said that being so good as a junior did not prepare him to be a Test cricketer; he never knew how to graft runs as he'd never needed to. The parallels with JW are very similar, he was blessed with incredible talent that allowed him to cruise though junior football without having to exert himself.

I find the continuous bashing of our medical/fitness staff absolutely perplexing. Unless you are embedded in the club and privy to the treatments and actions of the staff (and players) you have nothing to base your assumptions on. Spot on.

Just to keep you informed, another 62 sign ups over last two nights, total slowly creeping back to 35000, renewed optimism to the fore

Alright Dr Hogan - you believe in accountability from the medical/fitness staff ? I'm glad you value accountability so highly. Please be accountable for your posts and list the avoidable injuries over the last fews years and exactly how they were left to get worse over time.

With 18 players on the field, one player can only have so much influence. (Gary Ablett Jnr only racks up around 10% of GCS total SuperCoach points, which is an indicator of his value.) And given how difficult it is to postulate how 18 year old boys will develop, this means the draft is an extremely ineffective tool in evening up the competition. The AFL should restrict the first round of the draft to only teams that miss the eight and then go in reverse ladder order for round 2. I would also be in favour of a weighted lottery for the first round. This change is particularly necessary in a world of Free Agency.

Not quite mate, I said I thought he would end up like James Hird. I also suspected that the club was instructing him to stay away from packs, clearly got that wrong too. It does highlight that Jack was not ready to play senior footy. He should not have been rewarded with selection for playing that style of game. We may still be paying the price.

Good, but doesn't come near the Galloping Gasometer (Mick Nolan) or the Flying Doormat (Bruce Doull).

I used a door in my house for 20 years. Ten years ago I did some renovations and removed it. Every now and then I still try to use it. Ever re-arranged your kitchen and looked for the cups in the old place, even years later? Habituation is very strong.

You say 'forget priorities' and then describe a mid first round and before second round priority picks under the old system. So you don't want to forget the priorities? I am all for equalisation - and that includes a team's list when they are perennially bad - what annoys me is when Melbourne supporters fall into the trap set by other supporters that drone about it as a form a 'undeserved welfare.' Or that 'we had our chance' with these priority picks and 'screwed them up' but do they know that Sylvia, Scully and Strauss were the only PPs we have received? They are including all our early draft picks in that empty argument. And how does that hold up? We chose poorly at the draft so we shouldn't be able to draft anymore? Equalisation isn't a 'give it one shot' situation... So I would say 'don't forget the priorities' to the commission. It is a part of the rules (!) that they can be given out to teams that need them to compete. So how about 'remember the god-damn rules' as a declaration to get behind?

I don't think it is him.

Draft. Peter Wright, Sam Durdin, etc., there's talls to be had at the pointy end this year. Given we are looking at a bottom two spot, we will have early dibs. Again. Sigh.

Bernie is a demon, he acknowledges that and definitely plays his part in on/off field as demon. But he is also a crow still and was for a very long time He is a genuine guy and come Saturday will be a demon

I dont give a flying what the commentators or cheap journos think of our gameplan. As long as the opposition hurt at the end of the game we will improve.

unleash the Pig Dog

All this time I thought it was a perpetually crap footy side, inept management, poor crowd numbers.. And all along, it was BBO's jokes that made us a laughing stock. How did I not see it before?

Most of the guys we have drafted have been rated by all and sundry in their draft years. How can a guy like Toumpas be rated top 1 or 2 all draft year, lead his state physically and spiritually, play an integral part in their team, play and really contribute in a senior SANFL Grand Final with best on ground rating? How can a guy that has achieved all of this with absolute belief in his ability, come to our Club and flounder so badly. There have been some good performances, but how???? It has happened too often to be as simplistic as just picking the wrong guy. The culture of the MFC is infected and I believe only PJ, Roosy and his Coaching group can change this. They will need time. As a supporter base we have to stop cultivating and feeding this cultural embarrassment that is our Club. Give PJ and Roos the time that is desperately needed to change the last 50 years.

See I think that's a bit of a myth. Obviously at stages in his first years in 2009 and 2010 he was out of the side. But 2011 he played a full year. 2012 he was dropped then came back and played good footy in the backline before injury and never recovering his form. 2013 he was sat out a week after failing as a defender and then actually played some ok footy down the stretch last year when back forward (ie the opposite of 2012). If anything he seems to play better after a spell in the 2's. Which might reinforce that he gets more confidence going down a level and coming back up.

Probably time for you to explain to your 12 year old that life's complicated. Not everything is black and white. Unless, of course, you're a sloganistic politician trying to capture the support of the dumb ass majority of brain dead apathetic voters in this country.

I do this from time to time with my wife, calling her the ex's name... She still loves me, I think.

I agree. Don't care if he still loves Adelaide either, if he does, so long as he busts a gut when wearing a Melbourne jumper, and he does. I'd be staggered if blokes like he and Cross didn't still have their hearts at their old clubs to some degree.

took them six years to conclude what they concluded about watts from day one

Mitch Golby ... was very good early on but was dropped last week after one poor game. Elite user of the footy. Perfect left foot halfback

no...no he didn't