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Apologies if it's been mentioned before... My hero of the day, and it's taken me til today to find him. Think back to the game, we're 4 up with about 4 minutes left... Hunt misses the shot on goal, manages to get the ball soon after and runs around Treloar, delivers inside fifty. Miskick to Grundy and the pies clear. On the footage I have, Sidebottom ends up with it, running on the boundary of the wing. Salem is tracking him but can't catch up. Sidey handballs to Treloar on the sponsors logo and he's off with a paddock in front of him. I thought we were a certainty to see Treloar give them the lead then and there. At the time I remember thinking this is it. If we win by stopping them here, it's as important as a goal. Camera pulls out to a long shot. Those of you with a copy take a look. The whole midfield is empty. Treloar can run all the way to fifty and unload. Only Salem is trailing him, and while he tries his hardest, he hasn't got the pace. In the long shot we see Hunt as the only red and blue jumper, and he's behind the centre circle and is jogging having given up. And rightly so. He's fifty metres off the contest. At this point, a smaller player for us identifies that there's noone left who can help Salem and pressure the kicker, and the guy sprints from off camera all the way up to Treloar to get a hand on him as he launches into his delivery. The slightest effect on the kick meant that it didn't have penetration, and was more lofted than Treloar would have liked. We get numbers to the drop, and we clear. The next half a dozen plays are all fifty fifty contests. He wouldn't have gotten a stat as it wasn't a tackle. Noone around me even noticed the distance he ran to get to the contest. I felt like I was the only one who saw, from where I was sitting. And since it wasn't a score or important free kick it probably got lost in the multitude of hard efforts all day from both sides. But for me, that player was as much a hero as Jack. 50 metre sprint to catch one of the zippier players in the AFL, when he was on completely the wrong side of the ground, and it definitely wasn't his job. The name? T. Bugg.

Hardtack is right in his use of the word 'eerie'. It was a truly bizarre yet thoroughly fascinating thing to observe. I suspect one had to be at the ground to truly experience it. I too think it was one of the most extraordinary things I've seen (and felt) in all my years of watching football. Many factors went into creating the theatre of the moment. The game had been an emotional roller-coaster for all supporters. It was big crowd. An expectant crowd. It had been an absolutely frenetic game to that point, and the game was clearly drawing to a close. It was literally on a knife's edge. Both sides had a lot to lose, and a lot to gain from the victory. The last 10 minutes of the final quarter seemed to last an eternity - I found it to be absolutely torturous and emotionally-draining in the extreme. It was also dark and cold and, as such, the floodlit arena commanded everybody's complete attention. For this very moment, the ground became a theatre and this was the final act. And everyone seemed to know it. As soon as Watts gathered the ball, it was as though time had just been suspended, and no one could do anything about it. Everyone was absolutely transfixed by this moment in time: the players, the coaching staff, the umpires, the entire crowd. It seemed as though everyone was acutely aware that a significant event was about to unfold right before our eyes, but we were all powerless to influence the outcome. It had already been scripted, but no one, including the central actor, knew what was about to happen. That it was Jack Watts who commanded centre-stage added to the spectacle. The spotlight was on him. And him alone. You could hear a pin drop. And then Watts threaded the needle. It was a bloody tough kick. Most players would've missed it, even though they'd have slotted the same shot every time in practice. The gravity of the kick would've been too much for most to handle. As ProDee observed - it was pure redemption for a player who'd carried so much torment over so many years. That it occurred on the very stage that had initiated so much of the negativity just added to the episode. An unbelievable moment. I'll never forget it.

Some interesting news going around that apparently Watts flipped the bird to the Collingwood cheer squad after the siren? Joffa Corfe made a rant on Facebook about how much of a [censored] Watts is and what he did was unacceptable or some [censored].. Well his post got deleted but did anyone see him flip the bird? If so my respect for Watts has gone through the roof. They were heckling and booing him all game for no apparent reason. Get [censored] Collingwood and eat a bag of dicks Joffa!

Is he? He kicked two goals and, if you watch the replay, had a hand in a few others as well, especially in the third term when we were at out best. He kicked one, passed another on to Watts who goaled and then crashed a pack which allowed Pedersen to goal as well. That's just what I remember off the top of my head. While I love what Stretch brings to the side, Buggy is ahead of him at the minute for his impact on the game and more than deserves to keep his spot. No one needs to pot you, Steve. You do it to yourself when you drop Tyson for JKH.

The man has won me over – after playing what he admitted later was a shocker, he picked out my 7-year-old daughter over the boundary line fence after the QB game, and handed her his signed footy. People write off ageing champions every day. And yes – in this sport - he is a champ, declining or not. Averaging over 25 touches a game this season, still adjusting to new club, personnel, system of play etc. Not bad thus far is an understatement. One poor game. Watch him respond. P.S. First-time poster, long-time Melbourne supporter (back when we wore the royal blue and red!). Thanks Demonland, discovered this site about a year ago, really enjoy reading this forum, win or lose.

http://m.afl.com.au/news/2017-06-14/how-a-former-don-is-steering-the-dees-to-finals Of equal importance to Jack's finishing skills was Hibberd's last minute diving spoil against De Goey that not only disallowed what could have easily been a goal to Collingwood, but presented us with the opportunity to go end-to-end and put the game beyond doubt. Which is what eventuated. The picture is amazing. What's not so amazing is how another AFL journo can so easily muddle up De Goey with Treloar. Really amateur given it's their proffession. Anyway, Hibberd has been monumental for us this year. An enormous moment.

Someone on BF said Melbourne treats QB as their GF. I said the Pies do too, that's why they choked.

Another thing. I was at the game, but in the excitement didn't notice the full on booing at the final siren from the Filth sooks. It almost drowns out our song on the telecast. What a bloody disgrace the pies fans are to themselves and the whole football world.

We were right in line with Jack's kick for goal, right up in the clouds, so we had a bird's eye view of it, and it never looked like missing. I was on my feet and yelling my lungs out before I realised it, as was my son and everyone around us. As, to my great shock, were my wife and stepdaughters right beside me, who are African. This was only their 2nd live game of AFL, and Jack's their favourite player. Finally might have won them over.

My son and I were seated a few rows back midway between the goal and point posts in that pocket. It was strange as Watts jogged into the 50 and towards goal, there was an eerie silence and even the Pies players seemed a bit mesmerised and weren't making moves to shut him down. Then when he took that kick and it sailed through, the whole place erupted! That goes down as one of the most memorable football moments in my 65 years; seriously!

Demonland is a weird place. Lewis' kicking has been sensational all year, certainly in our top 5 or 6 kicks, but apparently he can't kick anymore. He's roundly been seen as a leader even by the current captains. But according to demonlanders, he's not a leader. Apparently he's slower now, and yet he gets high disposals every game. Maybe he was never that quick to begin with? 'Landers have even been sooking about how he doesn't lead or fly the flag of MFC, despite the fact he chose, out of 17 clubs, to come to us. Oh and he's arrogant, to boot. Even though A: He's earned it... and B: Arrogance and confidence are great agents in Aussie Rules football. One's we haven't had since Lyon retired. We knew what we were getting. A former star on the decline, who at 50% is still better than most players at 100%. Get a grip.

Herald Sun are reporting that we are going to make a big play for Jake Lever: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/jake-lever-and-daniel-mcstay-in-sights-of-victorian-clubs-in-this-years-trade-period/news-story/41488cc02f736fd6f6dc42a55b963898 Not surprising and, let's be honest, he would slot in superbly in our backline. Very interested to see how this unfolds in the coming months.

Sorry if this one has already been posted, but Jack's matchwinner with the 3AW commentary:

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2017-06-12/rd-12-the-sealer-watts-icecold-sinker Have a look Steve, he clearly looks up, sees Harmes and kicks very well to him - hard enough to ensure the Coillingwood player can't intercept and into space where Harmes can run on to it. Harmes kick to Watts is also very good. But you're nothing if not consistent.

Awesome description Ron. Time being suspended is a great way of putting it. In my memory Jack Watts is the only moving part - everyone and everything else is just static and silent. I was side on to the goals so couldn't see if it went through, but the sound that exploded from the fans down that end went through me. I have never lost it like I did then. Absolutely one of the most amazing experiences I've had.

Hibberd >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Howe

41,022

Re-watching the replay: halfway through 3rd q : Tim Watson 'Melbourne have completely lost their shape here' as Lewis makes a perfect 45' pass off half back, we switch fat side wing then one more kick to Watts in space inside 50. He seriously just says things for the sake of it! What a joke of a commentary team!

Its ok. Apparently Jack went around to Joffa's to apologise

I've been sitting in the same stand for near on 12 years. First time ever every single supporter got out of their chair and was jumping around. It was seriously the most pure moment of joy I've felt from our supporters in my time.

Nomination for Misleading Headline of the Year. Actual article: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-06-14/midseason-shift-as-betts-joins-the-demons

I think this would be a by product of his role in contests - we want him on the end of handpass out of traffic not in there competing and tackling to handpass out...

I've been disappointed with his foot skills and physical presence, but I acknowledge his leadership and he's a versatile player that can go behind the ball, into a centre square stoppage, or even push forward. Perhaps he's feeling his way with new teammates and a new game style. I reckon he's got some good games left, but he's not someone I'm expecting to be in our top 4 or 5 players. On Monday in the last quarter he directed Oliver to move his positioning at a centre square ball-up. Oliver did and it resulted with a clearance (long kick into the forward-line). So while I've been disappointed and expected more, I'm still glad we have him and doubt he's one of our major issues. Lewis is well down the list of any concerns I might have.

Just to start hump day off on a high note, I have just watched that replay of Jack's goal about 10 times this morning. Love it, love it, love it. Biggest roar of the crowd I have ever heard and the sulky looks of the Collingwood fans around me is something I will cherish forever.

lol the amount of [censored] those creatures scream at the players for every minute of every game and they can't take someone flipping the middle? Turn it up. Heroin and ice must give you thin skin.

Watched the replay. Pies were a bir unlucky in the ladt few minutes but i dont think any of the calls or non calls would have nessarily changed anything - at least not the ones related to the pies. How watts did not get a free against howe for dropping the ball in our goal square i will never know. I watched it a few times and in response to watts demanding to know why a free wasn't paid i think he said he just has to make an attempt to dispose of it. Huh? He dropped it! Cost us a goal. And my line bet! Would have put us 16 points up with only a few minutes to. I waz robbed!

Neale Daniher's speech. No wonder we won. Far out.

Re-watching the final two minutes: I hadn't noticed it live but Watts' run from CHB when Hibberd spoils De Goey to get into space is incredible. I had thought ANB pushed Adams in the back but I think he grabs his jumper and Adams just moves weirdly as he kicks it. Great chase from ANB regardless. I think it was probably holding the ball against Hunt - took Treloar on, got caught, I don't think he handpassed it - but I think the umpire had fallen over and probably missed it. I still think we can do better at protecting leads late in the game. We had the entire side backwards of centre but they still managed two shots on goal.

Jack Watts 2017 Queens Birthday.

I agree, for once in my life, with Terry Wallace, who said on SEN yesterday that Monday's game was "quite comfortably the best game of the year so far". We did an amazing job coming back in the 3rd quarter, while getting even more smashed in the hitouts & contested marks than we were in the first half. And we should have steamrolled them in the last quarter, but they did incredibly well to not let us get more than 2 goals in front. Both sides were the epitome of "hard but fair", but there was heaps of skill too, plus Howe's incredible marks, Jack's goal, Fas's goal after the siren. The game had absolutely everything, and was played in the best possible spirit; every single player put in. And the interactions between the two teams after the game was great to see, possibly helped by Howe and Dunn still being great mates with our guys. If Pies play up to that standard for the rest of the season, they'll be fine. Yet some of their supporters prefer to sook because the umpires didn't hand them the game on a plate.

Actually this is pretty funny. They clearly don't know the rules. There is no such rule as 'dropping the ball'. You only need to start you run up before the shot clock reaches 0. You can't ride someone's back into the ground as Aish did. They don't understanmd prior opportunity. Would love to do a rebuttal of that but CGAF.

Same, Nasher, I was exactly side on to the goals. I actually watched the crowd as he kicked it to find out the result, the crowd rising and the thunderous roar was confirmation enough! My blood pressure was so high and I was screaming so loud, I nearly fainted. I had to grab onto my mate to stop going down as we went utterly beserk. An indelible memory, right up there with the best footy moments I've witnessed. God knows how I'll fare if we ever win a final!

Jack Watts, take a bow. Your revenge is far more complete than imagined. Has totally unhinged the demented.

And Oscar McDonald's clever kick to Harmes....

Jack's winning goal on Monday was easily one of the best moments I've witnessed in footy, given what he's been through. And as others have said, the roar was incredible.

Melb v Filth qbw IS the prototype of all footy big-games. Like so much about this game...we start it.....others usurp us. Time to take back our rightful position and become powerful again. Collingwood should be thankful they get to play us on such an occasion. It's the only way they can garner any class.

He acknowledged that he had an absolute mare on 360 last night but highlighted that as a "proud person" he would definitely bounce back next week against the Dogs. Start him in the guts this week.

Or for someone 'who can not read the ball in flight'. I watched the replay last night and focused on OMacs game looking for errors (in fact i ended up focusing on the errors of all the players, which was weird). As DA notes there were there were two errors from OMac in the first q from left foot clearing kicks. Funnily enough i had thought (and wrote) both lead to goals when in fact only the second did. The first went to a semi contest that Dunn easily marked - but it was closer to our HF than HB so a pretty standard clearing kick. On both sides i counted about 15 such kicks, including one from Hunt under no pressure who elected not go in board, not down the line and set up Sharenburg for an easy mark. One was from Lewis who had three possessions to half time and one was hack of the ground straight to a pies player. Salem did at least two, one directly causing a goal when he kicked it to a player 35 metres out 9Langdon?). The second did result in a goals and he was bagged by Whispers Watson. What was funny was the ball should not have been with OMac. Viney hacked kicked one from a contest that only went 15 metres and straight to Aish on the 50 metre line, who then pumped it back in. Watson criticized Salem and oMc for not handballing but i wonder if the direction from the coach is actually to try and clear the area with a kick such was the frequency players did such kicks rather than handball. It wouldn't be the first time Watson showed how clueless he is about the modern game. I actually wonder if OMacs harshest critics and/or those who think his first half was poor were watching the game on TV not live and were unduly influenced by the dingbat commentators ('the ball fell in his lap, he just put his hand out', 'you can't teach composure', 'he has to get better' etc etc) who know no more about OMac than they do about where Howe has played in the past, Those two bad kicks were OMacs only errors for the day that i saw - and i watched carefully. Two. His first quarter was actually better than i remembered. Lots of composed handballs and kicks that hit hit targets and a goal saving spoil that he followed up and earned a free kick. He was actually not that involved in the second, but made no mistakes and did his job and had a terrific second half. played well for the rest. He was on Moore for much of the game, however not on either occasion when he kicked his two goals OMac had a good game. Not great, but good. And a much better game than many of his teammates Compare his game to Salem who made at least 6 bad errors and cost us at least 4 goals with two within a minute. Or Lewis who had three possessions at the 10 minute mark of the 3rd, one of which was the aforementioned clanger. Or Hunt who continually kicked the ball to the opposition or helicopters into our forward line to the forward's disadvantage. Or Viney who only had 5 possession to half time, one of which was a clanger. Or ANB who twice missed players all alone in our forward line, Or Frost who twice got tackled trying to break lines, with the second resulting in pies game (which none the less earned praise from Whispers who said that's how he plays) and consistently mistimed his marking attempts.

I would be happy to share QB as a home game every second year if it meant that we received four or five marquee home games on Friday and Thursday nights to balance things out. Personally, I think we would be more of an attraction to tv audiences ATM than Hawthorn or Collingwood who get the lion's share of such fixtures.

A boy turns into a man and comes full circle...

Then you're a poor judge if you haven't seen anything that says he'll be any good before yesterday. While he's made plenty of blunders, he's also shown plenty of signs before QB. He's still not developed and I don't think he's fully ready for AFL level, so the fact that he does do good things at top level ahead of time is a credit to him. People have short memories, forgetting how bad Garland, Frawley even Alex Rance looked early on. Not everyone can be Lever or Weitering from day dot. Oscar (even more so his brother) drive me nuts on game day sometimes, but he has attributes and we need to remember he'll take some time. I thought his first half QB was poor watching live. It wasn't. It was 2 left foot kicks that scarred my brain. It was his best full game. He was good.

Credit where it's due. It's no Leo Barry, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Bugger the newsreading, Ron, you should take up lyric poetry! The thing I remember most about that last few minutes was the continuous and surging noise, like about 70,000 people were saying "Oh yes!" and "Oh [censored]!" but not simultaneously, so all you could hear was this eerie semi-background garble that rose and fell with the play. A couple of times I thought the Pies were out and were going to nail a goal on the run to put them ahead, only for some act of desparation by one of ours to keep us in it. Then there came "that" play'; as soon as OMac dribbled the kick forward, you could hear the Dees fans exclaim "Oh!", seeing the break in the play and the chance to surge forward. Then I remember seeing Watts come sprinting out of nowhere to make position, and the surging roar as the ball landed near him, and sat up neatly .. and then he was off, with the crowd urging him on for what seemed like an age. The Pies defence didn't run at him for some reason, and sensing this, he seemed to keep running forward until he pretty much had to kick the goal, and of course did. The roar that followed is probably still echoing around the stands ...

I was lucky enough to be sitting right behind it. As Watts ran in he slowed right down, balanced himself before he kicked and it was like an arrow. There was not the slightest bend on it, straight over the goal umpires head. I knew he'd done it the moment it left the boot, it was pure. Coaches often talk about courage and the courage to run when you're spent. Watts was remarkable in this respect yesterday. One wonders if the training camp they went to before Christmas was the genesis of that ability - to just run when you can't. Great moment for Jack, great moment for every Melbourne supporter and I suspect a great moment for all football supporters other than the Pies.

Ok I should not bite but if I could post on whatever site this came from Id make this loser watch this video. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2017-06-13/daniher-inspires-melbourne "we owe daniher nothing." What a jerk. Someone in the future will owe him their life. Sermon over I have been seething on that all day.

The bitter tears of Collingwood adds a delicious cherry on top of the victory ice cream!

They are kidding themselves, Joffa what a w anker he is. The amount of chit they would have given Watts over the years let alone Monday, Watts gives a little back and the power puffs have a sook.

Tyson's last kick was the biggest howler. Kicked it nowhere near the boundary line, almost into the corridor and to a nest of Magpies. It was ridiculous whether it was intended or basic skill error. If Hibberd didn't spoil DeGoey he was lining up to put them in front. Enter Harmes and Watts...

This is the original, there's a page on Facebook that does them regularly.