PaulRB

Jack Watts: Jack had 20 possessions, including nine contested possessions, 11 marks, three clearances and kicked one goal. I thought he played a significant role on the weekend, particularly in the middle part of the game, where we needed to change some things up in the middle of the ground. He was able to play as a midfielder and give us some composure, plus some fierce ball movement, which opened up and gave us some scoring opportunities. That was a significant move in the day, which added real value in that part of the game. I was happy with his team-first attitude and engagement of VFL footy. He had a big influence on the game for us.

If Watts needs the coach to play mind games and drop him to the reserves weeks out from finals in order to get motivated, he should give the game away. I reckon he needs to show something special at Casey this week, cause he didn't vs Williamstown, though his intensity was good. It's just not coming together for him at the moment. And with Brownlow coming good and Hogan hitting form, amiungst others, we may actually do ok without Jack Watts this September...

With the bye before finals I figure I'll have two weeks to become obsessive, delusional and anxious, so shall wait till we beat the Pies. Mind you, was daydreaming about taking a road trip to Sydney for the elimination, and wondering where I'll celebrate the remarkable win... oh no, it's started...

Viney in Stretch out If Viney not fit, no change.

Who needs Buddy when you've got Pedo..?!?

Will be funny in a couple of weeks when Ross Lyon starts work at the Lexus Centre...

But knocking Sydney out at the SCG would be the best possible result.

Another win, 5 to go.

I watched the game, and Jack in particular, and was underwhelmed despite his evident lift in intensity at several stages in the game. He's not finding, creating or impacting in a way that demands a promotion, though I've no doubt it was an improvement. i thought Maynard was more vibrant and impacting around the ball. If it wasn't Watts, I doubt we'd be calling him up...

Have to make a habit of the strong start, will be critical in the coming month. Players need to treat next two games as dress rehearsal for the elimination, so bringing the intense competitive brand from start to finish, irrespective of score, is key.

Interesting viewpoint on Grand Stand today was that Gill raised the black ball media brain fart to distract from the more serious issue of the AFLs mishandling of Yarrans ice addiction... the old look over there!

I'd heard the "Chimp" nickname a couple of years ago and actually reckon it was one of the things that H used to drive himself at Collingwood, a feeling of being the righteous but persecuted, gave his some anger, "I'll prove those f#ckers wrong" etc... But then he came to MFC and we didn't persecute him, so he lost his mojo and tried to create some pejudice "the MFC dont have indigenous staff..." but it failed to get him going so he lost form and interest... All speculation, but its fascinating the way people work, even beyond their own awareness.

You wonder, despite all the public rhetoric by Goodwin ("One week at a time"), how prepared we are to hit finals at full steam. Viney resting foot, Jack Watts getting tuned up at Casey, Hogan in for last two games... do we have another gear to reach this year? Hopefully the 22 on Sunday will play like they are playing for their spot in a finals team, as, injuries aside, there's Viney and maybe Watts, Salem and Frost pushing for a spot. Should keep them firing. Casey today played with passion.

Picket's comment "...when he dominates the competition!" is what we've all been waiting and hoping for, for years now. But while he's had some great moments and can be awesome he's yet to "dominate the competition!". If it takes Jack being moved to another club for him to extract the 'midget' and consistently get the best out of himself, then that sad for us but maybe what he's should do. I think we'd all love to see Jack in full flight.

I've no doubt the FD is aiming to have Jack fit and firing for our first elimination (assuming we get there).

Reckon big Max Gawn is set for a monster game on the weekend. looking forward to seeing how he responds.

Isn't it great! We finally have a meritocracy at the MFC where players have to earn their spots, and work hard to keep them. Bodes well for the future.

I agree, and think one of the virtues of both Watts and Hogan is that they are able to play further up the ground, even in the backline as circumstances require. Your point about pressure around the ball apprears to be where Jack is struggling at the moment.

If you take item 1 & 3 of what they were looking for from Jack, namely "...get his hands on the ball.." and "... win the ball" which resulted in him getting just 22 disposals, followed by the comment "... he's capable of being better..". it looks like a polite way of saying "yeah nar keep trying Jack..."

My view is they are different cogs in the machine, and Weed will go out when Hogan is back or Frost comes in to allow TMac to move forward again. Jack is not a KPF. Watts position was actually made less secure by Brayshaw, Melksham, Hannan, Harmes all playing well.

So the VFL report on Jack's performance reads thus... "Jack Watts: He had 22 disposals, including 10 contested possessions, six marks, six hit outs and kicked 1.2. For the reasons why Wattsy was left out of the AFL team, I thought a number of good things came out of it. He was able to get his hands on the ball and generated some scoring opportunities through some of his ability to win the ball. There were signs of improvement around his performance and I think he would’ve got a bit of confidence from it. We still think that he’s capable of being better, but it was an improvement." So Mr Plapp identify's that Jack had to work on the following areas: "...get his hands on the ball..", "generate scoring opportunities", "... win the ball" Then gives Jack not exactly a ringing endorsement with: "..signs of improvement..." "...would have got a bit of confidence from it." "... he's capable of being better.." Has he done enough to warrant a recall to the AFL team?

Not sure what those questioning Lewis's year and recruitment are thinking! We would not be looking at playing our first finals series in over a decade if we hadn't recruited Lewis. Try this mental exercise... take Lewis out of every game he's played and replace him with one of the extended bench players... and contemplate the result. Then consider we're about to play our first final in a decade and have a smattering of players with minimal finals experience (Jones, Vince, Melksham, Hibbard) and one, in Lewis, with more finals and Grand final experience than the rest of the team combined... ... and some nufties on here are questioning his value. Fork me!

Be interesting to cross correlate it on crowd figures i.e crowd size and crowd ratios No# us :No# them. Umpires, being human and all, will be influenced by large highly vocal crowds...

Kent is much faster running toward goal than away...