Jarka

He wore contacts when playing

The last two years have presented a great opportunity that a coach doesn't normally have, and that's the luxury of being able to play so many of the team out of positions. This means he's had two full years of working on players deficiencies, and not just one or two, pretty much the whole team. I'm expecting the team to be completely different this season, perhaps not finals but the expectation is that they're not going to be the rabble which we've seen.

The obvious choice is Dustin Martin....only joking!! Scully is was the stand out no.1 for most of the year but Trengove came home strongly and I'm expecting Trengove to start stronger. It's such a tough choice because they're different types of mids but thankfully (Jordan McMahon come on down!!!) we didn't have to make it. At this stage I honestly can't pick one over the other

Just to set the record straight, I didn't actually post anything that suggested that I have concerns with Watts, I was merely trying to paint the whole picture and to give an explanation as to where some attitudes may have come from.

You say this as if your surprised. As my post tried to explain this is the lift of a no.1 pick, unfairly as it seems, and as I predicted (and in typical fashion) the responses become personal when discussing Watts. RR, thanks for fulfilling my prophecy

This is a great thread for several reasons. Firstly to Steamin Demon for setting the record straight. We all know that forums like this are full of rumour and innuendo, it's the water drinking station of the internet, but it's great to hear people with first hand knowledge sharing their experience. This point is the most important and we should all use this as a reference point going forward. Secondly, it's discussing a serious issue about Watts with a couple of great examples already. Like it or not being a no.1 pick comes hand in hand with the extra pressure and expectations that the previous 1st picks have come under. The reality is that he will continually be judged against previous no.1 picks, this will be done by the media, opposition supporters and Melbourne supporters. It's not an opinion, it's a fact that this will continue to happen. Thirdly, I find myself being oddly defensive of Watts when discussing him with opposition supporters. Much moreso than any other Melbourne player I can remember. It's strange, and I can't quite put my finger on it but at a guess I'd say that there is so much riding on Watts being elite that the alternative is just too painfull to imagine. Which brings me to another issue. When discussing Watts on demonland it seems that there is an unspoken rule - No one is allowed to mutter any negative words about the kid. There's already an example in this thread, if a post shows the barest hint of any negative comment then s/he will be instantly attacked and flamed until beaten into submission. We're all Melbourne fans, we all want him to succeed (my daydreams of Watts holding up the premiership cup are kinda sad that I try not to tell too many people), but like everyone involved with the club he is up for discussion. He should not be a protected species. I believe I know the source of the problem. Before he was drafted there was a suggestion that he had always just relied on his skill to get through and didn't put in the hards yards on the track. Possible lack of desire in comparison to the other potential no.1 picks (See Naitanui & Rich). Of course we all know that the kids are scrutinised and monitored ad naseum, sometimes the slightest issues can be blown all out of proportion. Perhaps some of us are just waiting for this to come true, personally I'm not, however I will continue to read the comments and use my own judgements whether to believe it or not. I will continue to question the positive and the negative remarks. Unfortunately this will continue until Watts starts to perform well on the ground.

Probably more of an 'Andrew Embley' type but with much greater stamina

I'm in - 'The Guv' lol I'm always terrible at this but let's see

One point that many may have missed is that in modern footy 10-12 players get rotated through the centre throughout a game. I'd imagine that Grimes would spent the majority of the time on the HB line then do his time through the middle. 'Part time' midfielders will also include players like Scully, Trengove, Wona, Jetta, Gysberts, Blease, Dunn etc. There's alot of players that the club will try and develop this season, it will be intriguing seeing how they balance their development and still try to win games

I agree, it was trialled on bigfooty with poor results

Love the new look, good work Andy. How dos the rep work?

Yeah, the point that I was trying to make was that it was only a minor concern, I didn't see the incident so I don't know exactly what happened and I'm grateful for the views of those who were there. If young Watts believes he can get away with showing his displeasure to the FD then he's in for a very steep learning curve, on the training track it doesn't matter what draft pick you were or how much talent you have, only hard work is accepted. BarryDawson, great to hear O'Donnell putting him in his place, your post puts it all into perspective

*Warning* - Slightly negative comment imminent It's great to hear that Watts isn't allowed to coast through the training sessions, however I'm a touch disappointed that he needs a spray to get himself going. I'd be amazed if our other kids like Scully or Trengove ever needs a kick up the backside to get them going, and the comments about Tapscott being frustrated with being held back also stand out as a possible difference in attitude. I know it's only the early stages and I have full faith that Watts will get the best out of himself, it's just not that great to hear

Barrasi, thanks for the update, greatly appreciated. Can you remember how Blease went?

I was lucky enough to sponsor Nathan for abour 3 or 4 years, great person and wonderful ambassador for the club. I've still got a couple of bottles of red wine with his photo on it, lol. I've been meaning to try to get in contact with him and pass them on

Our last player who was that big was Jay Viney....

Hey BBB, great report, thanks for the info. How did Green & Strauss go?

When you put it like that it's hard to think of any game plan that these types could possibly be suited to

I'm going to stick my neck out and reverse my opinion from the last 3 or 4 years. I think Dunn is going to improve out of sight next year. Yeah, I know, I'm shocked as well If anyone remembers my opinion on him it's been pretty low, however I think Bailey has slowly been working on him and he could be a big surprise this season. Bails has been working on his defensive part of his game, he's shown he can run with good mids, he's also got a big frame and now can run pretty well. Overhead has still been a weakness though.

Clay Sampson

How did we get onto Woey again? Oh well , I can't resist I've always thought that the thing that brought Woey down at Melbourne was the last contract he got, and both his manager & the club should bear the blame. His last contract was in the $500k range (my source was a press release from the club at the time explaining their decision), this put him in the highest paid category in the league. This also brought an expectation that his performances had to continue to match the size of his contract. Woey was a good average player but had a great year which won him a brownlow. He was always going to struggle to rise to the elite level and the club just couldn't afford to have so much money tied up with a good average player, something had to give. Now I'm unsure of how he got that contract, whether he threatened to walk or the club just gave in but it was a terrible decision that effectively prematurely ended his career by several seasons. I firmly believe that if he had of had a more realistic contract he would have played out his career at the one club. Oh, from memory we paid $50k per year of his salary to the pies.

I'm going to go against the grain, results are almost meaningless next year. I have no expectations (apart from not finishing bottom two). Next year is about getting our kids to start playing football together. Frawley, Garland, Morton, Grimes, Maric, Wonaeamirri, Watts, Blease, Strauss, Bennell, Jetta, Scully, Trengove, Gyberts, Tapscott, Gawn, Fitzpatrick. If the majority of these kids develop together and they reach the potential that we believe they're capable of then success will follow. Make no mistake though, the hard work starts now. Building a team is one thing, but developing it is something else entirely.

Just a point on the Newton & Meesen decision to move them to the rookie list, this actually allowed us to pick up two extra players in Gawn & Fitzpatrick. Obviously it's early days but imno I thought they did pretty well with that decision it's rare that clubs will pay out a contract, it's really is just wasted money.

To add to the topic, after Brisbane had some injuries to their key defenders they played McDonald in that role towards the end of the season, and he struggled a bit with that. This doesn't concern me at all because there's no need for him to play that role with us, we have Frawley, Warnock, Rivers, Garland & Martin all capable of doing it. He'll be a good addition to our defence and he'll release a player like Grimes into the middle.

That's hilarious, your recent posts have made this place much more bearable over the off season