London Demon

For ———sake leave Watts alone. I hate this carping on every time he makes a mistake or plays poorly. He gave loyal service to our club over a long period in difficult times, he deserves respect. We should just wish him well and leave it at that.

Just woke up in London . WTF?????!!!!

Sorry, just looked back at the thread and this has already been asked and answered.

What were the “off season issues”?

I am a little worried about this guy. He is clearly a special talent, ie he can do the amazing things others can only dream about. I don't buy the line that he's just "an athlete" , who is trying to play footy. He's a natural footballer as well as an incredible athlete. He's fast, brave, powerful kick, manic in his tackling, handles the footy like a basketball, etc etc, I could go on. But no doubt his development as a consistent top notch AFL player has to an extent stalled. And that's the problem actually. I suspect he is being so coached about the disciplined things he has to do that they are all buzzing around his head on game day, and his natural ability is being strangled. Hence his struggles. I am not blaming the coaches - its a difficult line to walk, make him do the team first things but without curbing what comes naturally. I'm confident he that he will, in the end, find his way out of his current slump, but he needs extra careful handling. We don't want to lose him.

One more of the dark years generation gone. I think just Nathan Jones and Jetta left. As for Col Garland, he has been a dedicated and loyal servant of the club. From the success point of view he played in the wrong era of course. But that takes nothing away from what has been a fine career. He gave everything he could. At his best he was a very fine AFL player. He should be very proud of his playing career, as the club is of him. Knowing his qualities, he will continue to serve the club well, albeit in a different way.

Terribly disappointed to see JW leave like this, but it's done, if that's the club decision we should accept it, move on, make it work. As for jack's final message, all class. He is clearly pretty devasted but refused to show any negativity or bitterness. Best wishes to him.

Omg!

A bad mistake, pure and simple.

I think we have all exhausted ourselves going backwards and forwards on this. It's not unlike he endless debates over here about Brexit. Lots of effort, emotion, analysis and argument, but no-one actually convinces anyone, even themselves, and in the end the debate goes nowhere. It's late afternoon here in London, I assume all will be pretty much known during Monday Melbourne time, so it will decided by the time I wake up tomorrow morning. Till then....

Well that was shameful too. We can stop doing things like that. Keeping Watts is for the greater good. The MFC created the whole Jack Watts messiah fiasco and loaded it onto the shoulders of a school boy, and now wants to throw him out, just when he and the club are finally facing in the right direction. Because of, what? 2 or 3 average to poor games late in the season, after an injury?? Give me a break! To quote a certain ex-MFC coach, who knew more than most about this club and its heart and history, Jack Watts IS Melbourne. We created him as a footballer, for good or for ill, we should stick with him, so that he and we can redeem what has happened over the last 10 years. He is now 26, the next 2 or 3 years are his prime. If he goes elsewhere I'm certain he will do well. Are we going to have to endure him doing well at Sydney , Geelong ( for that a--------e Scott!) or (even worse!!) the Pies?? That would be terrible. I personally could not bear it. And It would hurt us.

The emotion for and against is largely because the career of Jack Watts has been so closely associated (you could almost say intertwined) with what has undoubtedly been been the darkest period in the long history of the MFC. One the oldest sporting clubs in the world let alone Australia. And that's why it would be such a shame to shut him, and the club, out from the opportunity of some sort of redemption, just when that redemption seems so close. Do people not see that?

As I said in a previous post, for God's sake keep him.

I am getting weary of this. How soon will we know, do people think? I wake up each morning in London and go straight for the AFL site on the iPhone, half expecting some headline like "Watts signs for Pies!" . That would ruin the cornflakes, big time.

Look at Q4 of the Carlton game, ie the first one, round 2. Watts's role was crucial in us winning that game. Wihtout him we would have lost. Or take another one: that breakthrough win against Hawthorn in 2016. That little toe poke kick to Tyson which got us a crucial goal, then (later) that razor sharp 50m kick to Tyson for the gaol that killed them off. He's not an accumulator (I may have misspelt that..) , racking up 30 touches week after week, like Oliver. Nor is he a physical player who busts packs, like Viney. But those guys haven't got the skills that Watts has to split open a defence by a penetrating kick, or to kick a crucial goal from an angle. His disposal are fewer but in many ways dealier. A team is just that, a team, it takes a combination of severals kinds of player, working as one, to be successfu. And a guy like Watts is just as much an essential part of that as say an inside player like Jones. For God's sake keep him.

We simply must keep Watts. MFC supporters have suffered so much and now we all feel that we are as close to success as we have been for 20 years, but to hang out JW to dry like this, after the sad history of his career mismanagement, and the loyalty he has shown, would IMO be a stain which would hurt the club, including the players. We shouldn't do it. Remember the decision to move on James McDonald? It was done for perfectly rational player list reasons, but it was a mistake, and it did hurt us. Watts is liked and popular around the club, the other players won't want him to pushed out like this. That photo with Gawn says it all. Decisions like this are of course mainly about dispassionate judgement but intangibles like loyalty and the love for a club, which this player clearly has, can't just be disregarded. I wouldn't be saying this if Watts was a dudd, but he's a good player, we are a better side when he is playing well, and while I have at times been as infuriated with him as anyone else, he has over the last 2 years been generally good. You don't just cast aside A grade quality players like him. You persist, keep working with him. I'm very confident that if we keep him, he will be so fired up and determined that he'll repay us.

Everyone is toasting Roos and the players, naturally. But my thought tonight (past midnight London time) is thank God for PJ. The man who saved the MFC

Just watched a few of the highlights. I reckon that James Harmes double fend off which led to a goal speaks volumes for the potential of this group. We have still a way to go, lotta hard work to be done, but we really are, finally, after all those awful years, rising. No question about that now. Hold on tight everyone, its going to be quite a ride!!

OMG its really true!! Bursting with pride!!!!!

Just woke up here - wot's happening?? Don't tell me we've beaten hawthorn??????!!!!!

Just woke up here - wot's happening?? Don't tell me we've beaten hawthorn??????!!!!!

ok, thanks mate, good news

Could someone let me know how Watts was today?

Message from London. Very proud, wonderful result. This finally could be the turning point. We gotta take it, and drive, drive forward and upwards.

Terrific performance, really impressive bounce back. And not just grunt, at times really good quality. And we may have, finally, found a sport for Fitzpatrick, he looked (Fitzy??) composed and strong. If he can hold a spot down back that's going to be pretty significant, 'cos that opens up other possibilities, eg releases Garland who can be dangerous elsewhere. I look forward to the coming weeks.