DemonWA

He was there and looking in high sprits. Connolly introduced him as "Jack Watts, number 1 draft pick and #1 forward target"

Maric is in the touring party too...

Morning all, Last night I attended the annual Western Demons dinner. It's a great night for us Dee's fans who live over in the west. The playing group & coaching staff are in attendance and the players are allocated to sit on tables with the supporters. They allocate one player per table, and rotate the guys through the tables every 1/2 an hour or so. We had Barty, LJ & Grimes sit with us at various stages throughout the evening. Chris Connolly, Dean Bailey, Green, Davey & Chippa also spoke at various stages. Thought I'd share a few things i took from last night; Barty was really good value, more than happy to chat about anything and everything. Barty spoke about the teams "game plan" and the perception that they rely on turning the ball over at half back / fast breaks from defence. He said that basically they aim to get their hands on the ball where ever they can, and obviously focus on forcing turnovers in their forward half is the preference. He did say that they do focus on moving the ball quickly out of defence and turning defence into attack, so whilst it's not what they'd consider to be the game plan, it's a focus and something they work on. He also said that pressure for spots is getting really competitive; guys like Warnock, Joel Mac, Bate & Maric could all easily slot back in, and as a current member on the side you just have to hope you play well each week because the pressure is on to retain your spot. LJ was surprisingly very talkative. Amongst other things he spoke about playing alongside Aussie, and how he feels like they have each others back when they're both out there together. Let me just say Jack Grimes is a great bloke and i can see why he is rated as a future captain. One of the guys asked him about Tom Scully and Grimes said he was 100% sure Scully would stay. He said that Tom is a great guy who loves the club and family man to the point that he actually gets home sick (went home early from china), so he couldn't imagine him moving from the Dee's to live in Sydney. This is all stuff we hear in the press but to hear it from a fellow team mates mouth was pleasing! We also spoke about him growing up as a dees fan too. He said he used to sit at games and discuss deficiencies and get frustrated about why certain players weren't doing things, but it wasn't till he started playing that he realised how hard AFL actually is. Bails was asked a range of questions, which he answered with the usual dead bat. He said he gets enjoyment from seeing guys like Ro Bail play some good footy, and also spoke about Cam Bruce moving on, and whilst it was unfortunate has opened the door for Tapscott etc. Jamie Bennell wasn't at the function which i assume was because he'd gone to see his family? Also Addam Maric was in attendance so he may be in contention to get the call up?

im guessing you have #10 on your jumper?!

agreed. IF we beat west coast at home in their current form we can deffinatley claim to be on the way up, which is what we'd all like to see. If we loose it shows that we're in a similar position to last year, still got a way to go, but this is by no means a disgrace IMO: West Coast are much stronger than they were last year. & if you believe Woosha, LeCras may well play next thursday. Apparently his recovery from the injury is going very well. When you throw in Cox, Glass & Embley in vintage form, plus the forward line of Lynch, Kennedy & Darling they are not the same side taht got the spoon last year, and who also beat us at the G!!

Great News. And whilst Nasher has asked for the thread not to become about scully i predict he'll sign in the next week or 2

i think we've achieved the win/loss record that most would have expected, but our performances havent set the worls alight. We won the two games we really thought we should win (Bris/GC), we drew the one we thought might be 50-50 (swans), and lost against the hawks who are better than us. The test (IMO) is to see how we go against the eagles who are in decent form. They got the spoon last year, and at the start of the year this was a game we would have hoped to win...

i'd like to see him play on embley this week becasue embley has had a great year so far. Morton has been given run with roles on others in the past, Goodes etc.

Rivers to Lynch Chippa to Kennedy Garland to Darling Morton to Embley I'd also like to see bail go to shuey, who seems like their most dangerous mid fielder

Still doesnt change MY OPINION on the role!

agree that Gawn is a long way off being the number 1 ruck!! We may see him or spencil get a run in the side at some stage later in the year to get a taste of the level, but i cant see anyone taking the number 1 mantle of Jamar for a few years yet

i'd prefer newton in the team than dunn. They have both been on the list for ages, and apart from a nice patch last year neither has shown much. Newton was in good form prior to the suspension, if he continues that form i'd send Dunn back to Casey. Casey seem to be using Petterd on the ball a bit which might suggest that the FD want him to be a forward who can rotate through the middle? If this is the case i doubt he's competing for spots with dunn?

i think the sub shouldnt be seen as a tactic, but should be given to the 22nd best player in the 22. Watts can be sub for another week IMO

good post. agree on all points. Eagles forwardline is looking quite dangerous with the 3 talls. I'll be at the game next thursday, hoping the boys can get up, but as you say it'll be a big test of where they are at becasue the eagles are showing some very good form and will be hard to beat at home.

haha GOLD! I remember a bit of a scuffle against the pies a few years back, where Beamer came from no where and grabbed jack anthony around the throat?

I enjoy that you call it a "piece" haha i stand by my comment, based on the fact that the term "elite" shouldn’t be used so broadly. IMO elite is a term reserved for the absolute best, not the best in a certain group. If a child kicked a bag of goals each week playing Aus-Kick you'd probably say "he's an Elite forward"

Never said that he was plotting, ratehr that i'm sure he's not lying awake at night worrying about Jack Watts' untapped potential

No. all those names you mentioned chose to have careers in coaching. Dermie seems pretty happy in the media IMO. Therefore to entice him to come and be a worthwhile mentor for Watts i think we'd be talking some pretty decent coin. IMO that money would be better spent keeping our players who are delivering the goods, on our list for life!

All valid points, but i still believe talking about Dermie being Jack Watts' mentor is not the most productive excercise because IMO to take someone under your wing and mentor them requries some sort of vested interest or desire (on the mentor's behalf) for the mentoree to succeed, which we could only speculate about in dermotts case?

righto, every great CHF that has ever won a flag is linign up to be Watts' mentor?

Comments above in red. Apologies for not sharing your opinion in this instance

you also dont need to be a genius to write a sentance that acuratly describes his talent. Elite is a term which gets used far too regularly IMO. Blease is "talented" & "promising", but Elite? not for me

the whole Dermie discussion is pretty far fetched IMO, so i can see why C&B is shrugging it off. Firstly, for it to work Dermie would have to have some sort of reason to want to be Jack Watt's mentor and IMO it would need to be more than just cash (which Im guessing he has enough of to keep him happy). For dermie to really be the mentor that people are talking about he'd need to spend alot of time with Watts, and would need to persist with him for a couple of years id say. Cant see why Dermie would bother with all that effort? He'd be asked about the process and JW's progress on every pannel that he sat on in the various TV programs, and what if Watts showed no improvement? Plus Dermie being a natural footballer doesnt equate to him being able to teach it to others Secondly, what kind of a slap in the face would it be to the current coaching group & support staff at the club? It would be an admission that our own coaching staff arent good enough to extract the talent from a number #1 draft pick? Thirdly, if Watts needed such a level of coaching/mentoring where the team of coaches, support staff and past players are not enough then he either doesnt have the talent we think he does, or he doesnt give a crap about footy. I think the club would be better served getting the Ox, Neita or another one of our great forwards to "mentor" him, if infact it is even requried.

i actually think there is a fare chance that we can keep him, regardless of how long he deffers his signature. My reasons are as follows; Why would GWS want to pay anywhere near the reported sums of cash for a #1 draft pick with 2 years only in the system? Especially if he is yet to sign with them..... they would be paying a massive price for a boke who will have played ~1.5 seasons. Seeing as they are about to get access to a whole range of top picks sureley they'd be betetr served paying for older, more mature, big name players? If it wasnt for Eddie's radio stunt would anyone actually have any good reasons why a new club would want to add another young player to what will be a very young list? I doubt his name woudl have come up this early in teh season if it wasnt for speculation casued by the outrageous comments of Eddie??

i forgive him in a heartbeat. I honestlty dont think that getting blind drunk is an unforgivable act. He didnt break the law or do anything sus. Of course its unacceptable for an AFL player to get smashed after a game, but not unforgivable IMO