Phantom said:
Unfortunarely both Morton & Watts got stuck at the same club with poor junior development.
Like Morton v Cotchin, different players playing different roles.
Morton is at West Coast now so he'll be able to prove once and for all whether he's an AFL talent. But I agree that Melbourne erred by letting him spend his first 2 years as a loose man in defense, Watts the same, to me this is the worst kind of development possible.
Do I think it's too late for Watts? I'm still undecided, he's still a baby by KP standards so maybe there's hope. It comes down to whether his marshmallow heart can be hardened by some tough love (certainly not the pantomine affection on display at the MFC).
It's worth noting that guys like Hawkins, Kennedy and Roughead all struggled early on in their career, this is typical of the uphill battle a KP forward faces when entering the AFL.
For what it's worth, I would roll the dice with Watts if the price was reasonable, an early second rounder would seem reasonable for a former number one pick.
Phantom said:
Though, I must say, I did prefer Natanui over Watts.
In this day and age, gun ruckman rarely fail, that's been proven over and over with the likes of Leuenberger, Ryder, McEvoy, Naitanui, Kreuzer, Vickery, Ottens and McIntosh. The last top ten bomb was nearly ten years ago with a plodder named Meeson, and that was one of the weakest drafts in recent memory.
On the flipside, we've had an inordinate number of KP forwards failing to deliver - Watts, Hanson, Gumbleton, Grant, Henderson, Thorp, Dowler and (Hurley???)
The lesson in all this? If in doubt, pick the talented ruckman ahead of the talented KP forward, unless there's an absolutely ironclad case that the forward will make the grade.
That's pretty scary thought. Just imagine if we were the club that drafted Bling and Watts ahead of Franklin and NicNat.
