KFC SuperFooty TV: Lauren Wood, Jay Clark and Jack Watts look at the big issues in the AFL before round 9

With the spotlight on David Noble and North Melbourne’s game plan after a tough start to the season, Jack Watts recalls an even more extreme change.

It isn’t easy being the coach of a struggling team.

David Noble has been in the spotlight this week after apologising to his North Melbourne players for a withering post-game spray.

On Thursday Noble denied reports he had changed the Kangaroos’ game plan, but said he had “narrowed our focus on some key elements”.

Former No.1 draft pick Jack Watts says he has seen an even more extreme shift.

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Speaking on KFC SuperFooty TV, the weekly AFL show exclusive to heraldsun.com.au, Watts recalled the day former Demons coach Mark Neeld threw up the game plan mid-game during the first match of the 2013 season

“I think it was three-quarter time or even halftime of round 1 against Port Adelaide. We were down by 60-70 points, we were doing the ‘Clarko cluster’ sort of defence, not playing on a man but taking an area. We did that for the entire summer – out the door, round 1.

“(Neeld said) Man on man – if you get beaten, you’ll be dropped next week.”

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Mark Neeld chats with Jack Watts during his time at Melbourne.

Watts said the shift to a more professional environment at AFL clubs made a blistering spray harder to deliver successfully.

“Back before I was playing, back in the 90s, it wasn’t full-time, you’d come into training on a Tuesday or a Thursday ... the coach can get away with a lot more because it isn’t your whole life. You’d think, ‘I can cop a spray for an hour or two’,” he said.

“Now you’re there every day for the entire day, you spend all your time with them, so when you start breaking down those relationships if you get personal, if you get emotional – I noticed in my time a lot of the coaches stopped coming in (to talk to the players) post-game straight away because that’s when they’re going to say something that they’ll regret.”

Melbourne lost that game to the Power by 79 points and Neeld lost his job 11 rounds later.

Also on this week’s show, Watts gives the players’ perspective on the partying Eagles and debates with Jay Clark and Lauren Wood whether Essendon has turned the corner and Carlton is a top-four team, and the panel give their tips for every game in round 9.