Review Watts at draft time....

[ThePuppetMaster]

As it was the off-season I thought I would pass an eye over past phantom drafts for some thought provoking reading, and did it deliver.

This is a review from Quigley's 08 Mock Draft... and wow was it accurate.

Jack Watts (DOB – 26/3/91, Ht – 195.8, Wt – 85)

Watts is everyone favourite to go number 1 pick and he should, at worst end up being at least a very solid forward option for the next 10 years. Key position players are always a little harder to pick than midfielders but Watts has a lot of tools and he looks good for such a young player. He has very good size, gets separation with ease, has a great leap (5th in Camp with 70cm in the vertical leap) and has very good hands. He is exceptionally quick off the mark for such a big guy (2nd in Camp in 20m sprint at 2.82 and 7th in the repeat sprint at 25.44) and he surprised me at Camp with a fantastic agility time (2nd with 8.03). I knew he steps pretty well but I had thought he had a fairly wide turning circle. Importantly too once he takes the mark he also finishes very well. He has very good length on his kicks and can finish from outside 50. He doesn’t have many weaknesses in his game although he can struggle with shorter opposition players on occasion who can stick with him and put some body pressure on. He also is not the strongest player out there and can get pushed around with players as big as himself and invariably loses any wrestling matches he gets into. He relies on his speed to get free and has not had to worry about developing much of a forward’s bag of tricks as yet. As with most key position prospects he is likely to take a couple of years before he will be effective at AFL level because he is a bottom aged prospect who needs to get stronger and also because I think he is going to end up as a full forward. I don’t think he has the tank to be a half forward at the next level. He had a very good Champs and his talent was showcased very well in clearly the dominant team and against probably the weakest crop of key position defenders that I can remember. I think he has also been favoured a bit by the fact that apart from the Champs we haven’t seen that much of him this year having played school football rather than TAC or senior football where he would have had more exposure and had to match up on better quality opposition in less dominant teams. The other thing is how many times does he kick really big bags? He has enormous physical gifts but he doesn’t often get big bags. He also missed the U16 Champs last year with injury. Overall I think he is a great talent but I do not see him as a “can’t miss” prospect. He is a superb athlete who has shown good finishing ability in what little we have seen of him. Whether he can take the step up against much big, stronger and cleverer opposition and take the pounding week after week remains to be seen. Balanced against that is the fact that he looks to have a large amount of development left in him given that he is underaged, has played only at school level and further that this is the first year he hasn’t been splitting his football with basketball commitments. At the end of the day, although I would take Natanui ahead of him if it were my choice, he is certainly a worthy number 1 selection.

That is literally a spot on assessment of where Watts was at and the difficulties he has had to overcome show some excellent form and signs and AFL level.

Anyone looking for a 'mock' to read in detail, have a look at Quigley's 2011 mock when it pops up over the next 2-3 weeks.

 

[LeverPuller]

As it was the off-season I thought I would pass an eye over past phantom drafts for some thought provoking reading, and did it deliver.

This is a review from Quigley's 08 Mock Draft... and wow was it accurate.




That is literally a spot on assessment of where Watts was at and the difficulties he has had to overcome show some excellent form and signs and AFL level.

Anyone looking for a 'mock' to read in detail, have a look at Quigley's 2011 mock when it pops up over the next 2-3 weeks.

Wow. Almost spot on. Only touch that I disagree with is the tank bit - because JW4 can finish a game for sure.

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

No doubt; he has a great motor and it will only get better!!

Just interesting to note exactly what transformation he needs/has needed to undertake on his road to becoming an excellent player for us.

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

That weight for Watts is wrong too; he's stated that he was 79kg's during his first AFL season.

 

[Davis333]

I like Quigleys phantom drafts. It's easy to get excited when reading most phantom drafts as it seems every kid is the next superstar or at least going to be a handy player. Quigley doesn't sugar coat anything. He lets you know why a player will go at pick 25 and not pick 5.

 

[Captain Jack]

Interesting and very accurate. The haters don't understand that he will never be a J.Brown style CHF... He will be a star though