Jack Watts looking strong and fit as he steps up his recovery from a horror leg injury
While Port Adelaide’s youngsters have been getting the footys out during pre-season, Jack Watts has been putting in the hard work as he recovers from a horror leg injury.
Port Adelaide
Don't miss out on the headlines from Port Adelaide. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- AFL Draft: The best South Australian talents
- Prizes, discounts and freebies: check out the latest subscriber rewards
While the rest of the Port Adelaide group went through kicking drills at a windy Grange Oval, Jack Watts looked to be in a world of hurt.
Away from the main group of first to four year players, plus Brad Ebert, Watts and a Port staff member would line up and run 200m sprints.
It looked hard work, Watts would be leaning on the nearby fence gasping for air after the majority of the sprints.
But in a good sign for Port Adelaide fans, he kept going again and again.
Earlier on in the session on Monday Watts was all smiles, joking with players and the assembled media there for Wylie Buzza’s first training session as a Power player.
Stream over 50 sports Live & On-Demand with KAYO SPORTS on your TV, computer, mobile or tablet. Just $25/month, no lock-in contract. Get your 14-day free trial and start streaming instantly >
Starting with light running duties in a straight line near the main group there was even a shout of “yeah Wattsy” from his Port teammates as he increased the tempo.
But while the main group got the footy’s out, Watts was on the adjacent oval at Grange stepping up his recovery from a broken right leg and dislocated ankle that ended his 2019 season in Round 2 against Carlton.
He returned to the club for pre-season training at the same time as the first to fourth year players after beginning running again in August following surgery on an injury likened to what car crash victims suffer.
Robbie Gray, who ran laps with Watts at Alberton when the Power youngsters returned tor pre-season training earlier this month, said the decision by the former No. 1 draft pick to come back early from his off-season showed how well the former Melbourne forward was travelling in his recovery.
“I had a good chat to him … he’s feeling really good, really strong, so he feels pretty much good to go,” Gray said.
“He’s been doing all the running as per the program that the rest of the group have been doing.
“It’ll be really good for him to get four months of solid pre-season under his belt.
“Obviously it was a really serious injury that he’s gone through, so it’ll be a really important block for him, no doubt, over summer. He has had a good break and is really keen to continue on … the thing he begun with at the start of the season, because he had a great pre-season in the practice games and started the year pretty well.”
Watts will be one of the Port Adelaide players with the most to prove in 2020.
Watts, who has been one of the most scrutinised AFL players in recent years, in September revealed he struggled to get out of bed at times last summer when he was forced to face the AFL integrity unit in October after explicit text messages were circulated which was then followed by a video of him snorting a white powder emerged in February.
“I felt like I was the worst person on the planet and no-one had every done anything this bad,” Watts told The Imperfects podcast.
“That is as tough as I’ve ever gone through.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to have had an amazing life, but in terms of feeling down in the dumps and depressed I’ve never really understood that until that couple of weeks.”
But despite the horror off-season for the 28-year-old, Watts had looked like he had put that all behind him and begun to show just why he has been so highly touted during his AFL career with one of the best games he had played against his former club Melbourne in the Power’s fine Round 1 win.
However another challenge was just around the corner, this time in the form of a tackle from Dale Thomas that broke his right leg and dislocated the ankle.
Judging by Watts’ reactions to the 200m overcoming this challenge isn’t too fun at times.
But the way he put in the hard work at Grange on Monday should give fans hope that performance against Melbourne was not a false dawn for the talented Watts.