Captain Jack
Norm Smith Medallist
Melbourne Demons - Jake Lever Player Sponsor 2018
Melbourne Demons - Katherine Smith AFLW Player Sponsor 2018
Melbourne Demons - Ben Kennedy Player Sponsor 2017
Melbourne Demons - Katherine Smith AFLW Player Sponsor 2017
Ex-Moderator
Melbourne Demons - Ben Kennedy Player Sponsor 2016
Ultimate Footy Champ
Melbourne Demons - Jeremy Howe Player Sponsor 2015
OK let me put my 2c in here.
Clearly we are all for strong discussion and differences of opinion here... FFS we have already notched up 650 posts about Jack Watts this year, and thousands more in previous years. If we all had the same opinion that would not eventuate.
I know this is the Watts thread, but let me digress to make the broader points we are discussing here.
Discussion about Toumpas is now going the same way, and I for one am not a fan of it having experienced the roller-coaster of emotion that Watts' career has produced on this forum.
I am by no means Jimmy's biggest fan - let's be honest, he's played 2 or 3 good games in his career, and has had more brain fades than he has eaten hot dinners in that time.
But I'm also conscious of the limiting factors in his career thus far. His first year was basically a write-off due to those hip surgeries and that maniac Neeld sucking all the life out of the club. Still he managed 10-odd games. Last year was not much better - hardly the environment for a kid coming from behind the 8-ball to succeed in.
What Melbourne supporters have done, IMO, is project all our fears of failed draft picks onto Jimmy, without giving him any time to find his feet. Of course it doesn't help that Wines is already an A-grader, but we made our bed so we have to lay in it now. Not all draftees develop at the same pace! No doubt most realise this, but my issue is that people are so quick to jump on and give him a whack. He strung together 3 solid games in a row, then regressed a little against Geelong and was subbed off, then people called for his head again. So what! He's not going to improve by going back to Casey after one poor game.
As I have said all year, he needs a consistent run of games at AFL level to find his feet. He's getting that, despite each week's Changes thread being full of people wanting him dropped - even after the Saints game where he may well have been in the votes.
This is why myself and others probably look like Watts/Toumpas fan-boys on here - I, for one, try not to yell DROP TOUMPAS HE'S USELESS in the heat of the moment after yet another bad loss. I'm trying to smooth out the roller-coaster a little, where others seem intent on swinging as wildly as possible from side to side on these issues. Of course that is how the internet works, but thankfully the club does not work the same way as BigFooty.
I would challenge all those on the Toumpas bashing bandwagon to look at things with a little more balance, and indeed find other players or issues to dissect instead of reaching straight for the easy stuff. Rage about a terrible coach-killing turnover, sure, but think for a second whether he should actually be dropped/delisted/traded for that incident before calling for his head. Same goes for Watts bashers.
Clearly we are all for strong discussion and differences of opinion here... FFS we have already notched up 650 posts about Jack Watts this year, and thousands more in previous years. If we all had the same opinion that would not eventuate.
I know this is the Watts thread, but let me digress to make the broader points we are discussing here.
Discussion about Toumpas is now going the same way, and I for one am not a fan of it having experienced the roller-coaster of emotion that Watts' career has produced on this forum.
I am by no means Jimmy's biggest fan - let's be honest, he's played 2 or 3 good games in his career, and has had more brain fades than he has eaten hot dinners in that time.
But I'm also conscious of the limiting factors in his career thus far. His first year was basically a write-off due to those hip surgeries and that maniac Neeld sucking all the life out of the club. Still he managed 10-odd games. Last year was not much better - hardly the environment for a kid coming from behind the 8-ball to succeed in.
What Melbourne supporters have done, IMO, is project all our fears of failed draft picks onto Jimmy, without giving him any time to find his feet. Of course it doesn't help that Wines is already an A-grader, but we made our bed so we have to lay in it now. Not all draftees develop at the same pace! No doubt most realise this, but my issue is that people are so quick to jump on and give him a whack. He strung together 3 solid games in a row, then regressed a little against Geelong and was subbed off, then people called for his head again. So what! He's not going to improve by going back to Casey after one poor game.
As I have said all year, he needs a consistent run of games at AFL level to find his feet. He's getting that, despite each week's Changes thread being full of people wanting him dropped - even after the Saints game where he may well have been in the votes.
This is why myself and others probably look like Watts/Toumpas fan-boys on here - I, for one, try not to yell DROP TOUMPAS HE'S USELESS in the heat of the moment after yet another bad loss. I'm trying to smooth out the roller-coaster a little, where others seem intent on swinging as wildly as possible from side to side on these issues. Of course that is how the internet works, but thankfully the club does not work the same way as BigFooty.
I would challenge all those on the Toumpas bashing bandwagon to look at things with a little more balance, and indeed find other players or issues to dissect instead of reaching straight for the easy stuff. Rage about a terrible coach-killing turnover, sure, but think for a second whether he should actually be dropped/delisted/traded for that incident before calling for his head. Same goes for Watts bashers.