Jack Watts: The Demons’ Pariah

This is an article which I wrote on Jack Watts mid-way through the 2015 AFL season…

The Australian media is renowned for wielding a scythe through our tall poppies and perhaps the AFL media’s scythe is the sharpest.

Last week, a former number one draft pick got labelled the most derogatory term in football, soft.

Jack Watts over his seven-year AFL career has been criticised at every turn by ‘experts’ in the media and most worryingly of all, by his own fans.

Being in the crowd at a Melbourne game is to witness tall poppy syndrome at it worst.

Watts is Melbourne’s pariah.

Happily embraced when the going is good but the first to be banished when things get tough.

Already this season, two dichotomous events have highlighted the snap judgments that are made on Watts.

Round 1 was an affirmation of possibility for Melbourne and Watts lead the charge.

He tallied 17 disposals with six contested at 70% efficiency.

He also collected seven marks, three inside 50s and kicked three goals in Melbourne’s first Round 1 win in ten years.

Watts showed off just one of his many elite skills during the match, performing a classy tap back off the goal line, using a subtle rotation of his palm, to give Jeff Garlett the opportunity for a soccered goal.

Watts also kicked goals at crucial moments, including a spectacular curling banana from the boundary 40 metres out, to stunt Gold Coast’s final quarter resurgence.

Watts’ moments of exceptional skill, intelligent decision-making and clean disposal this season have also been peppered however, with clangers and blunders.

None more so than the much lambasted ‘ducking’ incident.

Ducking is one of football’s cardinal sins and Watts ducked twice in as many minutes in the Round 3 match against Adelaide.

His second flinch caused a turnover that Adelaide capitalised on to kick a goal.

The fans at the game and pundits in the media have used that two minutes of poor football to condemn Watts and his future in the AFL.

Watts-bashing is an all-inclusive activity, up there in popularity with abusing umpires and calling ‘BALL’ at games, and the majority of the time it comes from Watts’ own supporter base.

Perhaps expectations have maligned him.

As first pick in the 2008 draft, Watts was seen to be a ready-made footballer.

The classy ‘utility’ player, who was destined to take Melbourne out the doldrums of cellar dwelling sorrow and carry them to ultimate AFL glory.

While Watts’ career path line hasn’t yet fulfilled the hero prophecy, it also hasn’t been that unusual either.

113 games for 17 disposals, 6 marks, 2 tackles and a goal every two games are the modest game averages of a former number one draft pick’s first six years in the AFL.

But they aren’t Jack’s.

There are, in fact, the numbers of a current AFL elite Brendon Goddard.

Goddard’s story is remarkably similar to Watts’ as he was also scouted as an elite utility talent.

Goddard’s draft profile read; “Can play midfield, forward or back, reads the play well, is strong overhead and a superb kick with either foot.”

Throughout his first six years with St. Kilda however, he was criticised for having poor body language and not looking hungry or hard enough around the contest.

Watts’ first six years have been very much the same.

Watts has played 99 games at an average of 16 disposals, 5 marks, 2 tackles and a goal per game making him a more effective scoring utility then what Goddard was in his six years of top tier football.

There are two problems facing Watts however, that Goddard didn’t have to conquer.

Firstly, Goddard wasn’t billed as the saviour of the St Kida Football Club.

St Kilda’s 2003 list was a competitive roster including the likes of Robert Harvey, Lenny Hayes, Aaron Hamill, Austin Jones, Nick Riewoldt, Nick Dal Santo and Fraser Grehig.

That nucleus, including Goddard went on to become one of the best sides of the 2000s.

On the other hand, when Watts was drafted to Melbourne, its 2009 squad was nowhere near as developed.

Melbourne’s team was built around the likes of Colin Sylvia, Cameron Bruce, Nathan Jones, Brock Mclean and Brent Malony of whom only Jones remains in the squad today.

Goddard was given the luxury of time to develop his game, and work out how to train and prepare for the rigors of AFL.

Watts’ was expected to help carry the load from the onset.

As outsiders, most people don’t realise how hard it is to be ‘elite’ regardless of how good someone was as a junior.

Being the top ranked player of your graduating class doesn’t guarantee domination of the league and often makes the transition more difficult.

Watts moved from being a dominant force of junior football to facing off against the games greats and was expected to not only compete but also win.

The second and probably more prevalent problem that Watts faces is the abundant criticism that he receives.

While Goddard was criticised for poor performances and not fulfilling his number 1 pick potential early in his career, the time dedicated to him was limited by the space available in newspapers and the time available on the few football TV shows aired per week.

Now, across nightly broadcasts, dedicated websites, apps and radio, we can criticise those who we believe aren’t fulfilling their potential and we can do so every day, of every week, year upon year.

His coaches and teammates might be supporting him, but Watts has faced endless criticism both at games and in the media and as a result his confidence is shot, as anyone’s would be after such a constant barrage.

The comparison between Goddard and Watts’ does however possess a silver lining.

2009 was Goddard’s seventh year in the AFL and his first true breakout year.

During that season, Goddard averaged 27 disposals, 6 marks, 3 tackles and 2 goals every 3 games.

He was also selected in as an All-Australian, finished second in St Kilda’s best and fairest and played in the Grand Final.

Although Melbourne’s a long way off playing in September this season, Watts isn’t a long way off replicating Goddard’s breakout year and becoming the elite player we all want him to be.

Melbourne fans remember, good things come to those who wait, and those who have a little bit of faith and trust.