Dr. Gonzo

Levers a defender and he's what, 22? Watts is a forward and he's 26. Take off your rose coloured glasses

Noone ever said it was

Watts would be a weak link in the last 2 premiership teams. May have got away with playing in a side like the Hawks 3peat in an Isaac Smith type role but when you're a side that relies on every single player playing with frenetic pressure (as we do) he is a weak link. Interesting trade period coming up but I have faith in Viney, Taylor, Goodwin and the rest of the FD.

Watching Richmond today just reminds me how important it is for every player on the ground to pressure the opposition

You still have to deal with the legacy though. Using Watts as an example, the club very well may have (let's face it we did) let him down in his development. Individual personalities contribute but they're not 100% to blame in this case. However that doesn't change the fact of where we are at now. Whether the club was at fault for failing to develop him properly is irrelevant to the player he is and where we are at now as a club. We're not gonna keep him around on the basis of feeling sorry for him because we helped ruin his career.

That's what I think too

Isn't that only as long as there is an age gap under 2 years (maybe more?) otherwise it's statutory rape?

Is it a slap from Roos or is he trying to talk up Watts to increase his trade value? That article is a misrepresentation of what Roos actually said by the way.

Oh boo hoo it's a supporter discussion forum of course we're gonna discuss the club, all aspects of it. Criticism is not always unwarranted, there's clearly issues with Watts' professionalism as per the issues preseason and again following his injury. It's not isolated, he's been given multiple chances by different administrations throughout the years. How many chances does the club give a recidivist to get it right? Wait much longer and his career peters out to not much and he leaves as a cheap FA getting us not much in return ala Sylvia.

The problem is the criticism isn't confined to the rabble here on Demonland, obviously there's some in the club who feel he hasn't been pulling his weight and can offer more on the trade table than he does on our list next year. Obviously Watts is not a terrible player. If he was he wouldn't be being considered for trade, he'd be delisted. We're not gonna get anything for JKH or Kennedy on the trade market, Watts is the kind of player other clubs will bite at. He seems like a genuinely nice bloke, it's not personal or vindictive for me. But if the club believes they can better the list by putting him up for trade in this instance I agree with them.

Nothing to do with hypotheticals. Just pointing out that Watts would likely be out the door regardless of the last games result against the Pies. His card was marked before that.

They were all done. Few footy players get to decide the terms of their retirement. Even Boomer Harvey wanted to keep playing and he was almost 40. Bruce didn't last two seasons at the Hawks before having to call it quits. Supporters are far too quick to stick the boot in to the club for making sensible list management decisions.

If Watts took his job seriously and pushed himself last pre-season in an effort to impress the new incoming coach and an effort to push himself to become elite then this issue wouldn't have come to a head. Stop shifting the blame.

Interestingly this is my take on the assessment of Goodwin's performance in your thread on the main board. Had we beat the Pies and made the finals would Watts still be on the outer? I think he would as he has apparently demonstrated poor habits and standards off field both pre-season and following his injury mid-season and it seems to be a recurring theme throughout his career.

I dispute that. He's had periods of good form followed by periods of disappointment and it's been a recurring theme since 2010.

Focusing on one game, and one quarter of that game, isn't very analytical. How did he perform against North and the Giants a few weeks earlier? How has he performed over the last few years? Over the course of his career?

We expect a player like Garlett to pressure the defense and keep the ball locked in to the forward line while also providing offensive efforts to run hard out the back and link up across half forward. Why is Watts different? Yeah it's a balance but each player needs to contribute to both sides of that balance. Otherwise the team gets picked apart via the weak link.

Effort is two ways otherwise you're just a passenger. Good players don't have to sacrifice offensive effort for defensive effort. This is a team game and it takes 22 guys every week providing the effort as a team, not some deciding to preserve their energy for when they can get on the end of a kick.

Oh please

That's the thing, the competition is so close now that often who wins comes down strictly to who brings the effort. You need every player on the ground playing total football, you can't excuse players just because they are better at kicking than tackling. Manic pressure is needed from everyone out there. Watts isn't the only one who faltered on this through the year but he is one of the few who has been doing it repeatedly throughout his career. I just don't get his mindset, he is comfortable being "very good" he doesn't have the desire to be great. Can you imagine what Viney and Jones must think of some of his efforts and preparation? They don't want our younger players picking up those bad habits and seeing that there are no repercussions for failing to address them. You pull your socks up or you can ply your trade elsewhere.

No they didn't

Can you imagine him at the Pies after the way their supporters have treated him through the years. Quite funny really.

Schaches not leaving the Lions

Goodwin can only be held accountable for so much. The club failed by not making finals but on a personal level I think Goodwin gets a pass as a rookie coach leading a team with multiple injuries to key players. That's not to say he excelled but I don't think you could reasonably say he failed. He won more games than he lost. He had a progressive gameplan. He had to deal with injuries to key players and restructure our ruck/midfield and forwardline very early in the season. He gave us probably 3 of our best 5 wins over the last decade. In the larger scheme of things while it was extremely disappointing not to win one more game across the year and qualify for finals I don't think it will have a bearing on whether he has a successful career overall.

How am I not factoring it in?