Jack Watts: The Demons’ Pariah (Revisited)
After vanquishing his Demons’ on the Queens’ Birthday stage, it looks like we can finally move on from the narrative of Jack Watts being Melbourne’s disappointing Messiah. However I would argue that this was a narrative that should have ended well before Monday’s magical moment…
Queens Birthday Weekend: Round 10, 2015 — Roll back through the highlights reel and you’ll see some familiar faces.
Collingwood’s Travis Cloke kicked (what now would be considered an unbelievable) seven straight goals, Jeremy Howe took some stunning grabs and kicked some handy goals (all be it in the ‘Blue and Red’ back then) and Jack Watts had a decent game despite having to burden the load of ‘that’ narrative.
Care of AFL.com.au, here is the run down of Jack Watts’ highlights from that game…
Early Q1 (Bruce McAvaney): “Normally a good kick here Watts…”
Watts’ Inside 50 kick results in a Jeremy Howe goal.Late Q1 (Hamish McLachlan): “Watts just can’t fumble but he did… Should have been a Demons’ goal. What could have been for the Demons is suddenly what might be for Collingwood”
Jeremy Howe’s square up kick goes over Watts’ head in the goal square, and he fumbles the ball as he is tackled by Langdon. A lax team defensive effort by Melbourne sees Collingwood go end to end and results in Dane Swan kicking a goal.Mid Q3 (Bruce McAvaney): “Watts… good tackle… Free kick to Watts. This is big. This is a big moment. Nailed it! A moment for him ey?”
Watts chases down and pins Travis Varcoe in tackle to win a free kick directly in front of goal. Watts then converts the set shot and puts Melbourne back within 12 points of the Pies.
Jack Watts ended the first edition of the “Big Freeze” with 16 disposals (9 contested) at 87% efficiency, 3 marks, 3 tackles, 4 clearances, 4 score involvements and a goal.
In reality, Watts’ game was solid but in many aspects, unremarkable as part of a sub-par team performance from a disappointing Demons’ side. I included the commentary around each of his match moments however, as they continually alluded to his previous ‘apparent’ off-field disappointments.
It has never been Watts’ performances that have seen him become the walking headline of Melbourne’s continuous rebuild but the comments surrounding them, as seen by the Channel 7 broadcast of that game…
“Normally a good kick” referred to Watts’ apparent high clanger rate — despite the fact he only averaged two clangers per game in 2015.
“What could have been…” inferred that Watts’ fumble in the goal square resulted in Collignwood’s coast to coast goal, and by extension that Watts’ ‘source errors’ seemingly always resulted in opposition scores.
“A big moment for him ey?” is essentially a Channel 7 script writers dream, as every Queens’ Birthday “big” moment for Watts’ in an opportunity to redeem himself after “that” Queens’ Birthday moment.
“That” moment being his infamous AFL debut in 2009 and in particular this welcome to football’s big time…
That tackle defined Jack Watts for the bulk of the next seven years of his AFL career — he was stigmatised as a ‘soft’ private school kid, who couldn’t live up to the pressure of the lofty expectation of being a №1 Draft pick or deliver in big moments.
Monday’s clutch performance, in both kicking the winning goal and performing a match saving pressure act confirmed something that I’ve known since 2015 (and before) to the rest of the AFL public…
Jack Watts is a good footballer.
Is he amazing? In patches… yes. Is he elite? No, not consistently.
But is he ‘good’ in the way ‘good’ players are influential on their team’s results, week in — week out, by being a productive member of their club’s best 22? Emphatically… yes!
In the article I wrote in 2015 (read here), I compared Jack Watts to the early career version of another formerly maligned №1 Draft pick, Brendon Goddard and since then Watts’ progression has continued.
In the seasons since, Watts has been at, or above, the AFL average for all of his key metrics (other than tackles) and is finding ways to have more impact on the scoreboard while also committing fewer clangers and increasing his average possessions per match.
In 2015, I suggested that Watts was sitting at the level of the pre-breakout season Brendan Goddard. Now in 2017, I believe Jack Watts is ready to take that next step to have an ‘elite-level’ season much like Goddard did in 2009 and 2010.
Fortunately for Demons fans, Melbourne’s rise seemingly follows that of its former pariah.
Perhaps the club is due for a ‘proper’ breakout season as well…
