Why not Nicknat ?

[Furn]

Ok

I can see why this is gonna seem like a troll but its really not.

And yes the Hawks are sucking ass, and we deserve everything you can give us.

But just to settle an argument.

Did you take Watts becasue he is from Vic and NicNat will go home

OR because he will be the better player ?

Ok couldnt pout a poll on but if mods could that would be great.

PS i think u took Watts cos hes the better player.

 

[Crimson Azure]

Drunk post at 12 O'clock.

We took him because we think he is a better option long term.

 

[Furn]

Drunk post at 12 O'clock.

We took him because we think he is a better option long term.

yeh i get that but my friend is saying you wanted him but he was gonna go back to WA. Thats why he wasnt picked.

Now I havent heard anything like that and my friend is wrong. Just back me up.

This isnt about whos better its about why Watts was picked.

 

[On the bench]

Lets make comparisons after a few seasons not just one game,but yeah as i was watching him i was thinking thats one that got away!

 

[Furn]

Lets make comparisons after a few seasons not just one game,but yeah as i was watching him i was thinking thats one that got away!

Meh.

Look i think in picking between the 2 you cant go wrong.

Both immense talents!!!

All i wanna know is was the home state an issue ?

From what u guys know.

 

[Campbell's Chunky]

ps i think u took watts cos hes the better player.

o rly?

 

[Demon 86]

shoo! shoo away! the lot of u!

 

[Dyslexic Emo]

What about Yarran?

(you can't have a thread like this and not mention Yarran)

 

[stabler]

The go-home factor was probably about .05% of the reason we didn't draft NicNat.

After Neitz retired our major concern and i stress, MAJOR concern was our lack of forward line. Jack was the best of the key forwards last year but not only that, he moves like a mdfielder and has explosive pace, something that is quite unique for someone his size.

Nic Nat obviously has freakish skills, but at the end of the day we needed a forward much more than we need a ruckman.

He's also an incredibly level headed young kid with serious leadership potential and these are the sorts of people we need to surround our club with.

I think it was the perfect result for us and the Eagles.

 

[master bate]

I thought this thread would come. NicNat is an athletic freak who was always going to show off his talents more than Watts this year in my opinion. He's older, bigger and stronger and played a lot more senior footy. Also a game against the tigers is a bit easier than facing an experienced and rather solid Collingwood line up. Jack gets his right of reply on Friday night.

I'm not sure if the home state thing was an issue, I mean we drafted Bennell and Jetta (and Jurrah). We seem to have some belief in our organisation to hold onto blokes. But if you had them dead even you would go for the local bloke.

Either way I'm confident our recruiters did their home work and picked the best player to choose from. I also know they had Watts, Naita and Rich as the clear top 3 and didn't dismiss any of them lightly.

I hope Watts and NicNat and both stars off the comp, but if in the end it turns out like a Hodge v Judd, where NicNat probably wins on points but both players win Norm Smiths and grand finals I won't be complaining. The thought of Watts winning a Normy in the number 4 are salivating.

 

[Slander]

We picked him (Watts) because we felt he was or would be the better player.

I doubt the whole home state thing came into play - Watts didn't want to go to WA though FWIW.

This time last year Nick Nat was cut and dry as the number one pick (Rich was number two) - Watts' name had barely been mentioned but he was outstanding in the national champs where from he became the player to pick in the 08 draft.

 

[demon21]

I think we took Watts cause in the long term we think he will be better. Also we needed a Key forward as well we could do with a ruckamn as well so it would have been a win win.

Also i think the go home factor would have been talked about the last thing we needed was to pick a player up Number 1 then in a few years the player going back home.

 

[Dyslexic Emo]

I don't think there woul dhave been much of a go home factor at all. Seeing as he was origianally from Fiji, pretty much where he went, his mum and family would have followed anyway. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they are happy they didn't have to move, btu it's not like they have lived in Perth their whole lives and haven't alredy packed up and moved already.

 

[Dez!]

Didn't they mention that if NicNat was selected by Melbourne (or any Vic club) that his family was coming with him anyway?

Although NicNat is a freakish sort of ruckman, forwards like Watts are a lot harder to come by and your ruckman doesn't need to be a superstar to win games although it helps it's not a necessity. While good promising forwards are a must.

Ruckmen can't win Premierships on their own, forwards can.

 

[Dyslexic Emo]

Although NicNat is a freakish sort of ruckman, forwards like Watts are a lot harder to come by and your ruckman doesn't need to be a superstar to win games although it helps it's not a necessity. While good promising forwards are a must.

Ruckmen can't win Premierships on their own, forwards can.

Although I agree with most of what you said may I remind you of west coast. they had no forwardline yet still won alot of games and a gf (even if it was by a point). And the reason was their midfeild, which would never have been as good had it not been for their ruckmen, had they not had cox, they wouldn't have been half the team they were.

 

[Beats]

As previously said, Watts was the one with the go home factor, he pretty much he said he wouldn't apply for the draft if he couldn't be assured of being at a Victorian club to finish his schooling.

The choice was between Rich, Naitanui and Watts, they were all believed to be on even pegging(once Watts had decided to play footy over basketball).
Melbourne went with needs, key forward, the idea that nat could play KPF was thrown about but decided it was better to go with a known quantity in Watts.
The draft was extremely important so they decided to go with someone who is almost assured of being a good player, rather than someone who could have a lot of variance.

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

To add my voice into this topic... the way I see it, we've got four legit AFL ruck options as it is, so we didn't need another one. We have a deficient forward line, so we badly needed to boost our KPF stocks, which we did.

I could easily see us making the exact same decision and choosing a KPF with our highest draft pick next time as well.

Whether Naitanui turns out to be great, good, bad or indifferent as a player really doesn't concern me much at this point. Good for WCE if he turns out the way they would like, but he obviously wasn't our highest priority.

 

[bzparkes]

I don't think there woul dhave been much of a go home factor at all. Seeing as he was origianally from Fiji, pretty much where he went, his mum and family would have followed anyway. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they are happy they didn't have to move, btu it's not like they have lived in Perth their whole lives and haven't alredy packed up and moved already.

Naitanui seems pretty level-headed and I don't think he's the type of person who would just up and go. Having said that, they did move to Aus from Fiji when he was 1 so it's not like he's lived there for a long time. I believe they also lived in Sydney when he was growing up.


As mentioned in the past, Melbourne rated Naita, Watts and Rich about the same but having pretty much zero forward options for the future, decided to go with the clear best forward, who probably would've gone number one in most other drafts anyway.

I certainly don't think Melbourne made a mistake in this regard. Yeah Naita could turn out to be a better ruckman than Watts is a forward but that'd do them a fat lot of good if they have noone to kick it to in their forward 50. Right decision to take Watts in my opinion (also I really wanted us to take Naita ).

 

[Swampfox]

Ok

I can see why this is gonna seem like a troll but its really not.

And yes the Hawks are sucking ass, and we deserve everything you can give us.

But just to settle an argument.

Did you take Watts becasue he is from Vic and NicNat will go home

OR because he will be the better player ?

Ok couldnt pout a poll on but if mods could that would be great.

PS i think u took Watts cos hes the better player.

I accept your not trolling as your a Hawk supporter so my take on why we took watts is as follows

Watts won the Larke Medal as the best player in the championship that included Naitanui

Athletically they are similar although Naitanui certainly has an amazing leap but Watts is no slouch either

Only Trent Croad tested higher

Below the knees they are both also amazing for their size

Where Watts wins out is his football brain and ability to play in the toughest part of the ground

Watts is a one grab mark even in a contested situation

Watts also has amazing speed although Naitanui is very agile for his size

The way Naitanui recovers his own taps reminds me of the cat like attribrutes of Alex Jesaulenko

Watts has a basketball background and you can see this in the way he plays in pressure situations

Naitanui doesnt get the ball enough even when playing in the WAFL where Watts does

The go home factor may also have been a consideration but i doubt it

All things being equal i find Watts has far less chance of being a dud that Naitanui who is a superb althlete but still needs to learn how to play football

I hope both make the grade

 

[saj_21]

I am glad this thread was started by a supporter of another club and the replies by melbourne supporters are backing watts which is good to see. Nata will have more impact early in his career than watts he is older and a bigger body. As has been said we desperately needed at KP foward if i had the choice between a super star ruckmen vs super star forwar i would chose a forward ever day of the week.

For example,

Cox Sandilands Jolly vs. Riewoldt Brown Franklin i know which 3 i wud choose from.

 

[davey_magik]

Cyril

 

[chopper41]

Natanui is a brilliant athlete, but he's just that. An athlete. He's not a footballer. He can't kick over a jam tin. If all it took was athleticism then Micheal Newton would be a star. Watts has great agility and speed but is a footballer. He has skills, that Nicnat doesn't.

 

[bzparkes]

Natanui is a brilliant athlete, but he's just that. An athlete. He's not a footballer. He can't kick over a jam tin. If all it took was athleticism then Micheal Newton would be a star. Watts has great agility and speed but is a footballer. He has skills, that Nicnat doesn't.

See this is what annoys me, have you even seen Naitanui play? He's been playing footy since u12's so he's hardly new to the game. Kicking was suspect on saturday night, due to nerves no doubt and it's not the strongest part of his game anyway. His tackling is ferocious and he has fantastic vision to spot up targets by hand and his handballing is very, very good. Also his marking has improved immensely this season and he is fantastic around goals, apart from his set-shot kicking.

Not trying to imply that he's better than Watts but people going around saying Naitanui is only an athlete just have no idea or have never seen him play.

 

[ExTasDeeMan]

This is such a sunk cost of a thread. We took Watts, we didn't take Nat.

Justification will do nothing.

 

[Deestroy]

Because Watts > Nicknat.

Thread closed, this discussion topic is a complete waste of time.