At the break of Gawn

No way Pedo is in. I think Weids out could be the surprise.

Can you elaborate please? ?

Any hints on Watts?

+1

Ben is normally pretty accurate with his tweets. Seems strange to misinterpret ruck work.

"Dees rookie Joel Smith a strong chance to debut against the Saints. Jack Watts did extra ruckwork at end of training. Expect him to play." - Ben Guthrie

Agree. He's in our best 10 let alone 22. Not sure if it'll mean that big of deal if he plays round 2. I suspect that if he was left out it'd be about a punishment more than a form thing. Even Hodge isn't playing round 1 due to calling the club a few hours too late about missing a training session.

Gawn had one of his best games in rnd 21. He's very fit. I think the real challenge is either Pederson or Watts to take the backup.

I think Goodwin likes to be a bit coy with the media as it's also a vehicle for opposition clubs to gain intel. Obviously he's not going to show his cards yet. The beauty of this "in the mix" speculation is that it makes St.Kilda's planning much harder when considering our forward line. The teams are announced on Thurs night and most of the pre match planning is done before that. On the flip side, all of the Melbourne coaching staff know exactly who's going to be lining up in the saints forward line.

If we lose and Spencer + Weid add nothing just wait for all the backlash over his non selection.

Same. Can't see Weid getting a kick against the Saints back line. Surely the big forwards will have to be Hogan, Watts and Spencer.

Followed up with a tweet saying light session was planned due to playing on Sunday

After watching that it was obvious that the Watts thing was definitely a training attitude thing not some specific metric. Said he was disappointed in him and gave him a clip around the ears. Seemed unsure about Spencer playing.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/melbourne-forward-jack-watts-to-play-for-casey-on-sunday-20170313-gux22a.html Another chance for him to blow off the cobwebs

I think Goodwin's summation was pretty spot on. Had a good first half, did some nice things. Was good defensively. Got burnt a few times by his team mates running into open space. Looked a little rusty I thought though. Not enough evidence to suggest he's going to build upon 2016 or regress.

Calm down. He was trying to move it on quickly, but Hogan was out of position so he had to pull back. Regardless, he drew two defenders and almost set up a goal.

Dwayne Russell is commentating the game (heard him mention it today on 3AW with a Tom McDonald interview). So perhaps watching the replay on mute if we win?

Sounds good. Just don't mention the clarinet

That's because the media didn't ask about Jetta or Frost or Garland etc. The media loves a Jack Watts story so it was actually them who singled Watts out. The club just responded. Garland may also be down in his standards but no one cared to ask.

I agree. I think it's pretty accurate. I love Viney and Lewis, but there are a lot more midfielders ahead of them which puts them in the average category... e.g. Parker, Dangerfield, Cripps, Hannebery, Shiel, Kennedy the list goes on.

GWS Sydney Western Bulldogs Adelaide Geelong Melbourne St. Kilda West Coast Hawks to finish 9th.

I'm with Sam Edmund on some of those sackings. Hinkley will be close to gone if port finish bottom 6.

JKH is out for 8 weeks and VdB had an injury concern over his ankle. Watts might just get lucky...

2011 was pretty decent for a 20 yo. long term prospect and I actually think he was tracking OK under Bailey. Compared to the clubs current development program though it would have been on par with Auskick. I find your rating of Watts' years as almost in a vacuum with no consideration of what was going on at the club. Long term prospect players offer you nothing for the first few years and then eventually hit their straps. Watts was probably fair game to be judged in 2012 but a bloke named Mark Neeld walked into the club and almost destroyed it. The disunity between Watts and Neeld is well known on here which stumped his growth as a player. So if we exclude the Neeld years, you're only really left with 2 disappointing years (2014, 2015) under Roos. Some would even argue those two were more development years for all that he didn't receive when he started at the club.

I love the fact that he did 100 x 100m on Christmas day. Hope he has a really big year.