Jack Watts

[RossFC]

I'm sure he'd take more marks if we had any idea how to football up forward.. he's doing fine considering

Marshall should help free him up. Surely he plays next week, Don't even care how Marshall plays vs Centrals, All about getting minutes in.

 

[portly]

Opinion.

I watched Jack carefully quite often tonight.

Jack avoids being where the ball is and where the ball might be. Moves around a lot but not to good positions. Hard to see on the TV.

Drop him to wake him up.

Of course this could be Hinkleyball.

 

[GremioPower]

Opinion.

I watched Jack carefully quite often tonight.

Jack avoids being where the ball is and where the ball might be. Moves around a lot but not to good positions. Hard to see on the TV.

Drop him to wake him up.

Of course this could be Hinkleyball.

The ball goes where Watts is; not, the other way around. Duh!

 

[RangaInTeal]

Let’s be honest, he was at Melbourne for so long we have to deMelbourne him and that’s going to take time. He has plenty of ability and when he gets the pill something pretty special happens more often than not. People are seduced by his height thinking he is a key Forward, he is a Flanker and just needs to get a bit more of it. Look who he replaced, Aaron Young or Jackson Trengove, now Wattsy while not setting the world on fire, has performed a better team role than either Young or Trengove have at their new clubs. I love both Trengove and Youngy, would love to see Trengove back at Port one day as a Player Welfare Manager or something similar, but Wattsy is trekking along nicely and post Round 16 will kick a bag for us and give us a great ‘Special’ option up forward.

 

[Janus]

Opinion.

I watched Jack carefully quite often tonight.

Jack avoids being where the ball is and where the ball might be. Moves around a lot but not to good positions. Hard to see on the TV.

Drop him to wake him up.

Of course this could be Hinkleyball.

Opinion.

Jack is moving to drag defenders away from where the ball is and where the ball might be. His work shifts the defence out of position. Hard to see when you're only focused on the ball.

If the players who have the ball decide to exploit the space his movement creates, that’s perfectly fine because he’s playing his role.

 

[bomberclifford]

Watts is the new Westhoff. Much maligned by his own supporters who think every player has to be a Brownlow favourite or leading the Coleman.

We have problems but Jack Watts isn’t one of them.

 

[Peck]

He is such a good user of the ball, absolutely love him.

Would be great to see him get more of the ball, but for now I’m very pleased with his performance!

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Opinion.

Jack is moving to drag defenders away from where the ball is and where the ball might be. His work shifts the defence out of position. Hard to see when you're only focused on the ball.

If the players who have the ball decide to exploit the space his movement creates, that’s perfectly fine because he’s playing his role.

And the Neade strikes like the cobra!

Seriously though Watts is a tall flanker. I agree he uses his mobility to drag tall defenders away.

Richmond did a good job of blocking him out of a few marking contests too. You don't get to be premiers without smart defensive strategies.

 

[Macca19]

I think hes playing his role well. Yeah he could get involved a bit more, but i thought he was real good last night.

And Janus is right, he was moving to the fat side to try and create space for Dixon so that he wasnt getting much of a 3rd man up

 

[chiwigi]

Watts creates a lot of space as he often drags two players, he also has a decent touch inside and gets some difficult balls moving again.
With the return of Marshall teams won’t be able to afford to ignore him as they do Neade and we will have two players who can play tallish AND bring others into the game.

He is a bit weak, but that weakness also translates to good hand speed when needed.

 

[Dalfino]

I'd keep him in the side just for calling BT Bruce during Roaming Brian.

 

[Lagooner]

I'd keep him in the side just for calling BT Bruce during Roaming Brian.

I thought he called him “Bris” as in Bristle.

 

[portly]

The ball goes where Watts is; not, the other way around. Duh!

He also points a lot.

 

[portly]

Opinion.

Jack is moving to drag defenders away from where the ball is and where the ball might be. His work shifts the defence out of position. Hard to see when you're only focused on the ball.

If the players who have the ball decide to exploit the space his movement creates, that’s perfectly fine because he’s playing his role.

Yes, could be. But I was looking for that, and decided probably not.

And I made the point that I wasn't focusing on the ball, I was focusing on Jack.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

I've never seen a guy so happy at a club. He's like a golden retriever who has been rehomed at a farm after years of living in an apartment.

 

[Powerage]

Opinion.

Jack is moving to drag defenders away from where the ball is and where the ball might be. His work shifts the defence out of position. Hard to see when you're only focused on the ball.

If the players who have the ball decide to exploit the space his movement creates, that’s perfectly fine because he’s playing his role.

Opinion. Janus is the PR Manager for Watts and Rioli as the spin smells the same.

"Its not what he does with the ball that's important, its what he does without the ball"

 

[Power Raid]

probably needs a stint on the wing and bring westhoff to the forward line

he's too good a player but doesn't seem to know how to play as a forward

 

[GremioPower]

probably needs a stint on the wing and bring westhoff to the forward line

he's too good a player but doesn't seem to know how to play as a forward

Watts is not a tall courier, like Marshall, nor a target, like Dixon. He would be a fake-target.

Watts should play in-between the forward and the midfield lines. He is neither, being best as a link between those.

 

[Janus]

Opinion. Janus is the PR Manager for Watts and Rioli as the spin smells the same.

"Its not what he does with the ball that's important, its what he does without the ball"

Statement. When Watts plays on the wider ground of the MCG is when you’ll appreciate his work to create an option on the opposing flank.

 

[*PAF]

I think hes playing his role well. Yeah he could get involved a bit more, but i thought he was real good last night.

And Janus is right, he was moving to the fat side to try and create space for Dixon so that he wasnt getting much of a 3rd man up

The one part he needs to try and improve on is when the ball is coming in and a defender gets in front of him. Gets beaten a bit too often when that happens.

Probably the reason he has been picked on for not being a good contested mark. He's actually not that bad apart from when he loses that front spot.

A bit of specialised coaching should be able to fix that and probably something that he never got.

 

[Amarula]

Opinion.

Jack is moving to drag defenders away from where the ball is and where the ball might be. His work shifts the defence out of position. Hard to see when you're only focused on the ball.

If the players who have the ball decide to exploit the space his movement creates, that’s perfectly fine because he’s playing his role.

Exactly right. It actually goes against a forward's instinct to run in a different direction to where he thinks the ball is going, dragging an opponent or two in the process.

Rance got caught one-on-one with Dixon far more than he's comfortable with. This was to a large degree because he didn't have his usual cover of Grimes and Astbury going body-on-body and blocking for him, allowing Rance to take many marks virtually uncontested. Dixon could have got a bag on Rance, just didn't make the most of his chances and then got injured.

Also wonder whether both Dixon and Watts are carrying ankle niggles. They both seem a bit tentative changing direction, and it would also affect their kicking.

 

[Interstater]

Opinion. Watching the replay he looked much more effective than while watching at the game. And that has a lot to do with my previous expectation of him playing "tall".

Additional opinion. I hope he adds playing taller to his bag of tricks. A real tall marking option will split the defenders better.

One last opinion. If he is going to play small then we need a second "real" tall marking target. Our coach from KI needs to work out how to get the D1, Toddy, the Hoff, the small tall, 2 grays and a leviosa to gel asap. To complicate things you could add a Farrell, an Ebert and a captain to that mix.
Get that right by Round 24 and anything could happen. Its a long way from right at the moment but at least the pieces are still on the board.

 

[StuMan]

Statement: Watts is an organic meat bag.

 

[GremioPower]

Opinion. Watching the replay he looked much more effective than while watching at the game. And that has a lot to do with my previous expectation of him playing "tall".

Additional opinion. I hope he adds playing taller to his bag of tricks. A real tall marking option will split the defenders better.

One last opinion. If he is going to play small then we need a second "real" tall marking target. Our coach from KI needs to work out how to get the D1, Toddy, the Hoff, the small tall, 2 grays and a leviosa to gel asap. To complicate things you could add a Farrell, an Ebert and a captain to that mix.
Get that right by Round 24 and anything could happen. Its a long way from right at the moment but at least the pieces are still on the board.

That seems to be the plan all along. When Hartlett, Ryder, and Marshall went out, we couldn't put it in practice; but things seem to slowly be falling into place.

Marshall helps Watts, and vice-versa. Watts does not play target, but can be A target. So, defenses need to worry with him, freeing Marshall. If they worry with Marshall, then Watts gets open. If they worry with both, Dixon kicks a bag.

Truth be told, any defense that needs to worry with Dixon, Marshall, Watts, Chad, Motlop, and the Gray brothers is f*ck*d big time...

 

[Interstater]

Hopefully we can test it this Thursday night !!!