Dermott Brereton believes Jack Watts lacks the presence required to be a dominant key forward

WHY isn’t Jack Watts the star performer that his the No.1 selection in 2008 suggested that he might be? DERMOTT BRERETON says the answer is power and it’s nothing to do with Port Adelaide.

Jack Watts celebrates a goal.

WHY isn’t Jack the star performer that his former No.1 selection in the 2008 draft suggested that he might be?

To me the answer is power, not the team that he has joined, but the power to weight ratio that he has in his body.

There are some players that are tall, large and have some real size about them, but they just don’t have power, real power.

SANFL: NO REUNION FOR FORMER DEMONS

RUCCI: HOW POWER CAN RECREATE WATTS

DEAL: FATHER FIGURE THAT SEALED WINES’ FUTURE

Jack Watts - a genuinely nice young man with impeccable manners and a friendly demeanour that engages others quite easily - was recruited as the No.1 selection after playing very well as a key forward for the Sandringham Dragons, Brighton Grammar and also Vic Metro in the under-18 national championships.

And therein lies the issue with recruiting in this day and age.

We are the only professional, elite sporting code in the world that makes our draft selections on the suspicion that our young footballers are going to be good.

Jack Watts celebrates a goal. Picture: Sarah Reed

So our recruiters have to deal with a very definite degree of uncertainty. They therefore take into account not just ability, but size and height.

For example, two prospective draftees that play the same position and are estimated to be of equivalent talent and capabilities will be separated in selection by body shape and especially height.

Of course no two humans are the same, but if they are by definition equal in prowess, a recruiter will look towards the height of the lads as a determining factor.

Because of the style of game that is being played in this day and age, our recruiters are obsessed with height. Perhaps having 14 opposition players inside a teams defensive 50, has dictated that a key forward needs to have incredible reach in the eyes of the recruiters.

Should Royce Hart at 187cm, the centre half-forward in the team of the century come along now, no recruiter would even look at him as a key forward.

In fact they would probably advise him to attempt to change his game to become a ruck rover.

Jack Watts in action for Vic Metro in 2008.

Jack Watts in action for Port Adelaide.

Watts played well as a key forward as a junior, but of course against other juniors. He was taking overhead marks and kicking goals, so the assumption was that he would grow into his 195cm frame and be something akin to Lance Franklin, Nick Riewoldt or Jonathon Brown.

Melbourne reasonably believed that they could build a future around their young draftee.

They debuted him before he was ready to be a key forward in 2009 against Collingwood on the Queens Birthday clash in front of a massive crowd.

How wrong did Melbourne get it? Flick forward nine years to right now and Jack is now 27 and he is still not ready to play as a key forward.

He remains a fairly lightly framed 195cm.

The inside word from Collingwood was that they set out that day to bash him up as much as the rules would allow, destroy his confidence and forever after pick on him.

Watts has some real footballing capabilities and even some true weaponry but the physical presence that comes through the raw power within a man’s frame is not one of them and very few (if any) have ever made it as a key forward without that physical capability.

In recent times Jack has become a mobile and quickish, opportunistic forward.

Jack Watts gets tackled by Shane O'Bree and Nick Maxwell.

He has been able to use his pace and agility to get to positions where he can score goals. Either running back towards his team’s goals and kicking them on the run, crumbing from a fast forward entry, or getting to space and taking an uncontested mark by eluding his opponent.

And on top of that, in my opinion he is the best set shot at goals within the forward 50 in the AFL. His kicking action is clearly the best since Mark Williams at Hawthorn.

The issue with his style of game play is that when the goals dry up, Jack doesn’t have any other great game traits to fall back on. And in addition many people unfairly accuse him of lacking urgency as well.

The “go to” statistic is tackling when scribes want an easy estimation of footballing intent.

Jack has predominantly averaged a little over two tackles per game in his last few years. Which is the league average.

This year he has averaged 2.7 tackles in 11 games, which is acceptable.

He has kicked 13 goals from those games which is almost acceptable for a goalkicker that doesn’t put on loads of pressure.

But when Port Adelaide ground out a 14-point win against the Tigers in Round 12, Jack didn’t kick a goal and he only laid one tackle. That was a game accented on pressure and if the Power continue to rise into a final series, that is the style of game that Jack will have to contend with.

Jack Watts attempts to tackle Rory Laird.

The previous week he kicked three goals in their loss to Hawthorn, but still only laid one tackle. Jack then lost his place for Round 13.

The view is that although it is great to kick a nice little bag of three goals every four or five games, in the times when the goals don’t flow, how does Jack assist the team when the highlight tape is on pause? The answer should be pressure on the opposition.

Through his actions, making the ball stay in his part of the ground. Harassment is just as important as tackling if is disturbs the opposition’s disposal. But Jack isn’t a great pressure player.

I would love to see him utilize his fantastic pace and run down an opponent and gain a holding the ball free kick.

It would be beneficial to him to let his coaches see him go out of his way to lay across a boot and smother a kick as well, or at least attempt it.

We know that he is not a key position player, but we also know that he has some excellent talents as well. The additions that he could make to his game to make it better are all additions that are instigated by mindset. Like every footballer’s destiny, it is up to him.

Also, as a footballing scribe I couldn’t care less if he doesn’t appear to exude urgency. Dale Lewis suffered from that accusation during the 1990s, yet he was having a fair crack for the most part.

As long as Jack can lift his pressure count and lay meaningful tackles that keep the ball in his area, he can look as laconic as he likes.

Watch every match of every round of the 2018 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. SIGN UP NOW >