worldwideweb_demon

Probably made mentioned already after 200 odd pages but this saga has been handled atrociously by the club. Why the heck would you come out a flame your own player. It really serves no purpose. There are a dozen other ways to say you are not wanted by the club.

Watts deserves to go to his club of choice even if it's for pick 60.

I don't get the Watts bashers on here either. He is not in the top 10 players on our list.. so be it.. I think most agree that finals will be won by the best bottom 6 or so players in the 22 not the top few. Not everyone of 22 will be super elite.

With Watts gone, we have a new Messiah!!

Two first round picks and big bucks. Hope he delivers more than Jack.

Watt a great name - Rory Taggert

6 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

It’s a shame then we’re losing Watts who was always up then. 

But what's Goody going to do now that he doesn't have the option of dropping Watts which seems to be his go to strategy?

I'm really no fan of Bugg in the forward line. And Melksham is a little overrated. 

Let's just hope we don't miss Watts in the forward line too much next year and hope Weideman takes a big step up. I suspect Tom Mcdonald and Pedersen will have their ups and downs.

17 hours ago, Petraccattack said:

Came 21st in the B and F

 

Gun.  

Interestingly, he did average higher votes per game than Gawn, Melksham and a couple of others. Not sure if a couple of extra votes counts for a lot but T Mac having a breakout year in attack scored just 12.6 to Watts terrible 10.8.

I reckon we could trade out Gawn too. We have Pedersen to do ruckwork after all.

I'm over all this drama and trying to read all the posts. Just hope we get a good deal done.

Over the weekend, I've accepted that we're going to lose another beloved player in Watts. My attention is on what are we getting in return for him? It better be good cause if we're getting pick 30 something, I don't see how the hell this is going to be a positive trade for us.

To the guys that want Watts gone, are you serious that you would rather pick 35 than Watts in your squad? To me, that's stupid.

3 hours ago, Lord Travis said:

The club has handled this whole situation poorly. People are laying into Jack for not performing well 100% of the time... did they not see the rest of the players this year? They were up and down like a yo-yo! Put in the effort when they felt like it, and couldn't be bothered other weeks if it seemed it would be too hard. Jack is being made a scape goat (again) despite him clearly not being the worst performer in the team, and putting in efforts consistent with all his teammates. At the end of the day, Goodwin and his coaching staff have a top 8 quality list and failed to motivate them all, including Jack. 2017 in reflection is a year where Goodwin got found out as an inexperienced coach and poor motivator. If Roos or another experienced coach had been in charge of the list we had available this year, we would've made finals and likely top 4. If Goodwin is trying to force Jack out to make another statement, and it fractures the playing group and we lose Hogan in the process etc. then as a people manager he is no better than Neeld. There's a time and place to be a hard ass, and he clearly hasn't learnt when that is yet. 

2018 is massive for Goodwin. If we miss finals again I'd say he deserves the chop. If Jack is injury free, he will have yet another good year regardless of which club he is at. Jack deserves better treatment than the club is giving him and if I was him I'd move on. For the clubs sake I hope he doesn't though, as we lack good kicking skills and smarts going forward. Losing him would only add to our biggest problem!

Yes! Agreed. Why can't others see that Goodwin the rookie coach actually failed this year. This does not mean he won't end up being a great coach. Even a lousy coach like Buckley took the pies to 4th in his first year cause of a strong premiership list he inherited. I believe he has been coaching better every year despite the results.

Not Jack's fault that we started so slow in so many games this year including the last one where everything was on the line against Collingwood which had half its best team out.

So it seems Lever for Watts and pick 10?

I guess that's the main reason we are letting him go. Sounds like a fair trade?

2 minutes ago, Glenn Molloy said:

That's true, and you know what, they'll probably get the best out of him....but I just don't think we ever will given the history and more particularly, how comfortable he is at the club.  2016 he was very good but he had to go to another level this year and he only did it in patches - even before his injury.  Footy is littered with players who needed a kick up the bum and to go to a second club to fulfil their potential, and it wouldn't surprise me if Jack is one of those.  I'm going to miss him but when Goodwin, Jones and Mahoney say the sorts of things that they are, it's clear that they have good reason for letting him go.  

I'm hoping there is a hidden agenda in play. Like when we tried to ship Trengove to Richmond. I don't see much worth in getting rid of him for a lowly pick.

Like I've mentioned, it's the Watts expectations that has led to his downfall. If we picked him up now from another team for pick 30, we wouldn't be worried whether he gets dropped or not. Look at Pedersen. The sad fact is we expect him to be our best handful of players but he has not met that standard.

Unlike a lot of people, I don't expect him to be a match winner every game he plays but I do believe he is in our best 22.

6 minutes ago, Akum said:

Tell you what - next time you attend a club function, seek out Jesse Hogan and ask him who he'd prefer in the forward line.

His answer will be blindingly obvious to a lot of us here, but you may be surprised by it.

I could be the only one, but along the tracks I believe that Hogan will likely go home and Pedersen won't be there long term.

I am worried that it's a really short term decision by the coach who knows he is judged by his next two years.

That's the way the cookie crumbles. Coach has lost faith in him and so has a third of demonland. We understand footy is a business now and we need to remove those that underperform.

Yet each time we lose a favourite son, I always feel a little more disconnected with the club and the game. There are definitely players you love and go to the footy to watch, and Watts is one of them.

True that team success is the ultimate goal, but the real truth is that you haven't invested emotionally in half the squad as you have had with Watts. We have learnt to both love him and at other times hate him for his flaws.

I really hope the club doesn't lose its soul completely. Guys like Frawley and Howe wanted out. Watts stayed when he could have left years ago for more money. He loves the club.

Just to add my 2 cents worth. I'm probably okay with moving on Watts if we achieved a good trade in return but I highly doubt we could get anything in return from another club that makes it a win for us.

Do all footballers put in 100% all the time? I doubt it and It's been mentioned before that certain footballers who were really talented were always given some leeway. I remember listening to the OX on the radio and he mentioned that during his time, certain players' skinfolds were not published (probably cause it exceeded the required standard). Even this year, Daniel Wells came back unfit.

From my personal experience, talented guys in any field of life often tend to be the laziest. They never had to work hard to achieve a certain level of success. MFC have had our fair share with guys like Jakovic and Sylvia. If they worked their butts off, they would have been superstars of the competition. 

Will a guy like Watts likely to put in 100% in the future? He might lift is effort a notch now that he's been crucified by the club but I doubt he would put in that 100%. He's never needed to. His 70%, 80% is good enough to fit into any side in the AFL. Problem we have is that the club and many supporters can't stand this being good enough and we only want guys that will bleed for the club.

In my opinion, 80% of Watts is still better than a lot of the fringe players on the list. We expect him to be one of our best players but he is not. I would rather keep him and play him in the 2s whenever he doesn't perform. His downfall has always been his expectation.

Had to look it up again but I believe Adelaide finished 5th last. After 3 priority picks, this was pick number 8 in the draft. They obtained picks 12 and 28 from West Coast after giving Tyson Stenglein.

I was more sad to lose one of my favourites Jeff Farmer when he wanted to go home. We got back pick 17 for that. Shows how fair we are when our players want to move back home.

Personally, I don't mind if no deal is reached and Lever goes into the draft - serves them right if they get nothing. At the end of the day, we don't lose anything if they are being pricks.

2 hours ago, ProDee said:

Whether it be Cameron Mooney, Leigh Matthews, or Dwayne Russell, many in the media are complaining about Jake Lever's decision to leave the Crows after just 3 years.

I won't bother mentioning Scott Thompson, and I recognise there are some differences with his move, but what about Josh Caddy leaving the Suns after just two years ?  He was pick 7 in the 2010 draft and wanted out after his two year contract was up.

Not a word in the media.

I know there will be other examples, but it appears there's selective outrage in the AFL industry.

Do mention Thompson. The football world should take note cause we keep getting screwed. We didn't even get Adelaide's first pick for him.

Now would you take a young Lever or a young Thompson?? Both have had some injuries at the start of their careers.

Same here. He's done alright to bring in the ex bombers duo but not convinced he is a master coach yet and getting the best out of players. Has time to prove himself.

Our list is good enough to be a finals team and we missed out. Some more good recruiting and we should be challenging for top 4-6.

Watts is made scapegoat but other senior players underperformed too such as Gawn, Garlett was missing in crucial times, Jones output wasn't his usual high standard when he came back too.

1 minute ago, Roost It said:

He's wearing our jumper next year

True. Seems to have good genes. Future father and son in the red and blue too?

Deal not done yet. Haven't we learnt to not get carried away?

Hopefully we don't have to give up too much.

We seem to get very little in return when we trade away our favourite players... eg jeff farmer for 17, woewodin for 14, darren jolly for 15 etc

Revenge? Does it make up for the pitiful effort last weekend. 

Our team would have lost to most teams outside of the 8 with their attitude.

I see no solace in having a win against collingwood in round 1 and neither should the players. Only solace will be to storm into finals next year. 

So who's in and out next week? Where did that thread go?

Chin up guys! I haven't read too many posts but got the gist of how upset everyone is.

Lots of positives from this year. How good were Petrecca and Oliver when we needed to stand up yesterday! They will be the future of our club.

We weren't good enough this year. How many games did we play four decent quarters? We seem to give up 5, 6 goals in almost every game. Finals would have been a bit lucky if you asked me!

Anyway, hope we have a great trade/draft period and the boys will be put in a strong pre-season so we can actually put together 4 quarters next year!

Too early?

Whats with the obsession with keeping the first pick? Who knows, it could still be pick 18! Would trade out all our picks for lever!

But seriously, those wanting frost too.. he might not be happy playing in 2s for most of the year if he stays right?