At the break of Gawn

Regardless of where he ends up, it's good to see Jack has stayed in Melbourne this whole time, and from the looks of it, working out at Rob Jackson's cage. I'm sure he probably had to stay due to the trade news, but it might be a blessing in disguise for his performance in 2018. His 2016 holidays was the US (probably the worst place for your diet) and then I think Bali.

Am I imagining things or did Maynard not get any votes in the B&F? I know he only played one game but would that mean that none of the coaches thought he played his role? Most of us on here thought it was a decent debut.

That's contradictory to what Mahoney said. Said it was purely performance and money wasn't even a factor.

For those interested. For the Watts haters, please direct comments to Ralphy, I'm just doing a copy and paste. --- IS JACK WATTS REALLY THAT BAD? Jon Ralph - Herald Sun JACK Watts is gone from Melbourne, pushed out in an amazing turn of events. He probably doesn’t care to look back any more given he has moved on to touring clubs like Geelong and Port Adelaide. -----------

Agree on this. The only inclination I got from listening to the interview is that Goodwin harped on Watts' weaknesses and rarely praised anything good he did - a method that has never worked for JW. The only other point was that Jack and Jake were both blindsided by the their respective club's decision.

I'd rather wait to the end of 2018 before claiming Goody is heading us towards premiership glory. He plays a high risk, high reward sort of game though. A good finals finish next year exemplified by a Demons outfit with a harder edge will see praise thrown in all directions at him and the shedding of Watts the right move. Another average year though and perhaps a resurgent Watts in a top 4 Cats team will see Mark Neeld MKII being thrown around all over this forum.

If we're still relying on Pederson next year, then we're in trouble.

Scott seems more of a people person than Goody, I reckon Watts will go ok under him.

It's not like he was in Bali with Gawny. Just a bit of courtesy never goes astray.

Whatever your grievances are with Paul Roos' comments, I think everyone on this board can agree that the last point is the most damning. A player of 9 years deserved to be told that up front. Screams of cowardliness by the FD not to tell the guy directly.

Roos has given us more insight into this than any of the abstract comments Goody has made.

And so is your first point when he only played 16 games. Top 6 after his first 12 games. And played 4 of the next 10 games, which 3 we're poor after into injury. Finishing 21 it's not a good measure. Would like to see how he finished overall with the players in the 14-16 game range.

Also had a listen to the Paul Connors interview on SEN just then. - Watts has got his head around now leaving the MFC - Watts would want a good relationship coach. Sort've said he's a bit tired of people who doesn't praise the things he does really well yet Jack never avoids chatting about his limitations. https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=147059

http://player.triplem.com.au/melbourne/#/shows/The Hot Breakfast/11397 Was actually in the morning. Start at the 48min mark. Key points from the segment (also contains snippets of a small interview with Trac and Gawn regarding Watts) - Gawn and Petracca surprised by the trade and don't want him to go. Trac said that if Mahoney and Viney think it's best for the club then so be it (maybe it's not Goody?). He's Gawny's best friend so he said he'll watch him in the stands anyway wherever he goes but would great to still have him around. - Roos said Watts is an extremely popular player at the club. Roos was shocked with the news after his progress after the past 2 years - Said Watts is not a player you can bring straight back from injury. He's not an elite endurance player and requires time to build that up again. Said the club should've taken some responsibility in bringing him back too early - Roos/Goody were sick of talking about Watts just because he's a no.1 pick. Once you're in the system you're just an AFL player. Every player has strengths and weaknesses. Players need to take responsibility of their weaknesses but need nurturing/support - Claimed that Watts won 6-8 games off his own boot the last two years. - likened the strengths/weaknesses situation to Johannisen. JJ couldn't get a game under McCartney. Beveridge focused on his positives and used his strengths to good effect. - Goody was really supportive of Watts at end of 2016. So is unsure what had changed with Goody's views, but Goody would be taking advice from whole FD. - Watts thought exit interview went ok. Not completely positive. But nothing unusual. - Watts was advised by Connors first he was going to be traded. Not by the club. - Just added the usual positives about Jack. Elite decision maker, beautiful kick etc etc. Is suited in a top 8 side.

Anyone listen to Roos on MMM around midday? He said that Watts was given no indication in the exit interview that he was going to be traded. Apparently the exit interview went ok (not great) but he certainly didn't think it was leading to a trade. If true, then that's poor transparency from Goodwin on that front.

One thing for certain out of all of this is that even after he's traded, I still sense a Jack Watts thread will still be active on the forum discussing his performance. He's not like Howe, or Frawley etc. Melbourne supporters who are fans of JW will still take keen interest in his career.

Yep, I recall that too. Was 10th after round 8. Rnd 9 - did nothing Rnd 10 - big second half and got >20 possessions Rnd 12 - QBD Rnd 13 - 3 goals and dominant forward until injured

You do realise he was 6th after round 14 from which was one game after he got injured? Clearly, his first half impressed the coaches.

Anyone get the full leaderboard after round 14?

Coach's pet. Garlett should probably be second after round 8.

10th in the b&f after 8 rounds. Probably as expected but not worse as some would think.

haha to be fair the Prince did finish in the top 5 that year which allowed him to do that that now infamous speech.

Here's my true, but false sounding, knowledge of Jack. I have a friend who has a group of friends that do hang around Jack (they play basketball, talk about NBA etc). He definitely likes to have a good time (socially)off the field - so that rumour I know is true, but i think 99% of the people on this forum already know that.

lol, I've been to a couple of B&Fs and they normally run a pretty tight ship. They won't let him near the stage tonight unfortunately. Although that would be great viewing! Instead, he'll just be the elephant in the room. I feel sorry for him and all the fans he'll have to deal with with tonight asking him to stay and he'll just have to awkwardly answer with "Sorry, not much I can do when they want you gone".

Paul, none of these players have had any success. I seriously can't take their word of what they think success looks like. It's like taking advice from a sprinter who trains the most but always finishes last. People thought Cotchin would never be a premiership captain, or Dimma a premiership coach... look at them now. Haven't heard anything from J Lewis on this yet. Perhaps he will back up Jones' views.