P-man

God help the bloke if he has an average to poor game. He's a capable AFL player at his very best. Whether he gets there consistently is the question. The dampeners being placed upon his first game back seem wholly unnecessary.

The division he has caused actually points to a unity of sorts. I think the attachment to Watts individually gets undersold. They say it's a fine line between love and hate, and I feel that has been the case with Watts with a lot of supporters. There might be some who just abuse for the sake of abuse, but they aren't real footy fans imo, let alone Melbourne or Watts fans. I believe that deep down, the majority of Melbourne supporters have been desperate to see him do well. Not just Jack Watts the Melbourne player, although that's a large component, but also Jack Watts the football player. Frustration has boiled over for some, and abuse over the fence is poor form. But everyone has been on a journey of sorts with this kid over the past 8 years, including those shouting behind the fence. There has been a greater attachment to Watts than the standard player. Far greater in fact. That is what makes the season he is having, and the sudden jolt to his career, quite special. I could be wrong, but that's my take. Certainly that's how I feel when watching Watts now dominating a quarter, a half, or an entire game. I'm happy for the club, but in almost equal measure, I'm happy for him.

30 posts with the last 15 all in this thread, "connections to Essendon" and getting overly defensive. Nothing suss there.

Just five home and away hoodoos left. Four of which we still have a chance to beat this season.

Demonland Player of the Year: Unofficial Tally Votes (games polling votes/games played) 1. Gawn - 384 (12/15) 2. Viney - 348 (10/14) 3. N Jones - 324 (14/15) 4. Watts - 290 (12/15) 5. Vince - 264 (11/14) 6. Jetta - 216 (11/14) 7. Hogan - 215 (10/15) 8. Tyson - 207 (8/14) 9. T McDonald - 132 (9/15) 10. Kennedy - 114 (6/14) 11. Hunt - 111 (7/12) 12. Garlett - 97 (5/11) 13. Stretch - 83 (4/10) 14. Bugg - 69 (5/14) 15. Petracca - 56 (4/10) 16. Oliver - 48 (4/10) 17. Kent - 38 (5/14) 18. Harmes - 38 (4/13) 19. Wagner - 31 (5/11) 20. Lumumba - 24 (2/5) 21. M Jones - 17 (3/6) 22. Grimes - 14 (1/1) 23. Frost - 12 (3/10) 24. Pedersen - 8 (4/7) 25. vandenBerg - 3 (1/8) 26. Salem - 3 (1/7) 27. Trengove - 3 (1/2) 28. Garland - 1 (1/6) Best per round (vote order) Rd 1 (GWS): Viney, Watts, T McDonald, Kennedy, N Jones, Oliver, Gawn, Vince, Jetta, M Jones, Hogan Rd 2 (Ess): Kennedy, Garlett, N Jones, Vince, Tyson, M Jones, Jetta, Harmes, Pedersen Rd 3 (Nth): Viney, Gawn, Vince, Lumumba, Jetta, Oliver, Hogan, Kent, Salem Rd 4 (Coll): Watts, Viney, Gawn, Wagner, Tyson, N Jones, T McDonald, Lumumba, Kennedy, Pedersen, Frost, Bugg, Hogan, Jetta Rd 5 (Rich): Gawn, Viney, Tyson, Vince, Garlett, T McDonald, Watts, Kent, N Jones Rd 6 (StK): Hogan, Viney, N Jones, Watts, Jetta, Gawn, Vince, Tyson, Bugg, Kennedy, Pedersen Rd 7 (GC): Gawn, Viney, N Jones, Jetta, Harmes, Oliver, Bugg, Hunt, Vince, Wagner, Pedersen, Garlett Rd 8 (WB): Jetta, Tyson, Viney, Kennedy, Stretch, Vince, T McDonald, Watts, Hogan, Jones Rd 9 (Bris): Hogan, Stretch, Bugg, Petracca, N Jones, Watts, Garlett, Oliver, Harmes, Wagner, Vince, Garland Rd 10 (PA): Gawn, Jetta, N Jones, Hogan, Watts, Hunt, Stretch, T McDonald, Viney Rd 11 (Haw): Vince, Tyson, N Jones, Jetta, Watts, Gawn, Hunt, Frost, Wagner, Petracca, Trengove Rd 12 (Coll): Gawn, Vince, N Jones, Tyson, Kent, Bugg, Hogan, T McDonald, Petracca, Frost, Hunt, Kennedy, Watts Rd 13 (Syd): Hunt, Vince, Gawn, Watts, Petracca, N Jones, Wagner, T McDonald Rd 14 (Bye) Rd 15 (Ade): Watts, N Jones, Hunt, Garlett, Jetta, Harmes, Stretch, T McDonald, Hogan, Gawn, Kent, Viney Rd 16 (Fre): T McDonald, Hogan, Watts, Gawn, Grimes, Viney, N Jones, Tyson, Jetta, Kent, M Jones, Hunt, vandenBerg

Him hitting form bodes well for the tough run of fixtures coming up. We need him at his best if we're to hit double figures in the W column. I'm not worried at all about him leaving. Or any of them leaving. You'd have to be bonkers to leave the club now with so much upside going forward. Moreso if you're a player like Tom who has been through some of the tough times. Money talks but I'm confident the club will sort that out to his satisfaction. He and Hogan want success and they would see that on the horizon now.

I'd put some of that down to the interviewer. Robbo's post match interviews are infinitely better than Burgo's. Better questions and the players open up a lot more.

Just needed to ask a supporter, OD. Many are very adept at snow finding.

It makes fiscal sense for the moment, but it was awkward having the Freo support vastly outnumbering the Melbourne support. Pretty sure the crowd balance in the Port game was similar. They are are home games in name only. Winning will help in attracting some younger fans though.

Yep, exactly. He's a bit of a downhill skier. Although we've been through a period where we haven't had any skiers at all, downhill or otherwise. So it's an improvement.

Hibberd. Not Hibbert. He's not a frog.

Had a look at the game day thread on the BF Freo board. One of the few Melbourne related comments was: "Sheridan needs to play more like Hunt. Kid is already an absolute gun"

I'm sure some of them don't watch the game and merely look at the stat sheet. It's either that or they are completely clueless.

6. Hogan 5. T McDonald 4. N Jones 3. Grimes 2. Watts 1. Viney HM: Kent, Gawn (dominated against weak opposition), Jetta (solid as always, needs to convert in front of goal :D)

To the muppets in the game day thread who called an end to Grimes' AFL career after his first three touches, I hope you enjoyed the next 29 after that.

And by the way, Jack Grimes at halftime - 16 disposals at 93.8%, and leading the tackle count on the ground with 6 tackles.

Back to his best.

Geeze we've butchered some opportunities. Could almost have kicked 100 points. Matt Jones has been dreadful. The rest is pretty positive,

Watts + Kent having a day(night) out

Grimes is one quarter into his AFL return. Fair crack.

Mitch White has slotted in seamlessly so far.

And likely the only team to lose to them. Jumbo said it best in that we will be a trivial pursuit answer in ten years time. Hopefully not a repeat tonight.

Excuses. Freo are a bag of awful at the minute. This game can't be dropped.

I didn't see the game, but prior to the match I was thinking it looked very close to if not the strongest side that Collingwood have fielded this season. Not disputing that GWS should've won, but the Pies may just be starting to click. I'm somewhat glad we played them when we did. In other news, Jack Martin could be anything in another couple of years if he can add some size to his frame.

Roosy might have an ego but I sincerely doubt he'd harbour a grudge for weeks on end to keep any player out of the team, let alone a quality person like Grimes. That just seems fanciful. Whether you agree with it or not, I would think it's been purely a performance based decision up til now.