Nic Nat or Jack - Watt if?

The Jack Watts-Nic Naitanui debate has raged for years. Source: Herald Sun

If the Dees had taken Nic Nat with pick 1 in the 2008 draft, would the Eagles have used pick 2 on Watts?|

THERE are numerous legitimate reasons to criticise Melbourne's decision making in the past seven years, but the flak that is perhaps most unfair is the Demons' decision to take Jack Watts with the No.1 selection in the 2008 draft.

Whether it's a case of brilliant hindsight or maybe winners getting to write history, what the critics have conveniently forgotten is that there were 15 other clubs who would have been rapt to snatch the Sandringham teenager had he been available when their turn came.

The Dream Team Melbourne could have had

Watts was a 195cm All-Australian key forward, winner of the Larke Medal for best player at that year's Under 18 championships.

He had pace, athleticism, clean hands and his character was widely admired.

The three standout contenders for the No.1 pick that year were Watts, Nic Naitanui and Daniel Rich, and Melbourne, West Coast and Fremantle were all confident they were going to secure 200-game AFL players with picks 1, 2 and 3.

When contacted by the Herald Sun West Coast recruiting manager Rohan O'Brien said the AFL recruiters "were all reasonably excited with the quality of that year's draft''.

"Those three were probably the ones being spoken about, but from memory we also had Stephen Hill, Michael Hurley and Chrissy Yarran on our radar,'' O'Brien said.

"Looking at those names, for anyone with a top-five pick if you lost the toss and got one or the other you probably weren't going to be that upset.''

But O'Brien rejected the view of those revisionists who have since suggested that Watts was not worthy of a top pick .

Picture: Salpigtidis George Source: Herald Sun

"If we had pick 2 or 3 or 4 and we thought Jack Watts was the best player available to us, we would have had no hesitation at all in taking him,'' O'Brien said.

"You'll understand if I don't want to comment on what other clubs have done, but I will say that we rated Jack really highly and if it had've worked out that Jack Watts was the player available with our pick we would've been happy to have him.

"Jack's been a little up and down in his form but I still think he'll be a pretty good player in the AFL. Hopefully it starts to pick up a bit for him.''

Melbourne needed a key forward, a ruckman and a quality midfielder at the time, so its decision was not made on the basis of playing position. Going into the mid-year U18 national championships, the freakishly athletic but very raw Naitanui was the Demons' preferred choice.

But as O'Brien pointed out "Jack had a terrific Under 18 championships - I think he clunked a big mark and kicked the winning goal against Vic Country - and he had tremendous credentials.''

Melbourne was concerned about the go-home-to-Perth factor with Naitanui, and probably thought it could snare a comparable midfielder to Rich with its second pick (17, which it used to take Sam Blease).

So, on the night before the 2008 draft, a Melbourne delegation of coach Dean Bailey, recruiter Bary Prendergast, president Jim Stynes and chief executive Cameron Schwab went to the Watts family home in Sandringham to officially confirm that Watts would be their choice the next day at the Telstra Dome.

"He's got great acceleration and speed and lateral movement,'' Prendergast said back then.

"He's a developing power forward who reads the ball well in the air. We haven't seen him lead up and outwork his opponents that much, but that is the way Vic Metro has set up.''

The talent pool in that year's draft was exceptionally strong, with all of the 2008 top 10 picks now entrenched in their respective AFL teams' core group. There was still gold to be found as low down as picks 29 (Dayne Beams), 30 (Daniel Hannebery), 39 (Steven Motlop) and 44 (Rory Sloane).

The fascinating question remains what would the Eagles have done had Melbourne opted to take Naitanui with pick 1. Would West Coast have used pick 2 on Watts?

"He certainly would have been right in the mix, although because of the local WA connection so would've Rich and (Stephen) Hill and (Chris) Yarran,'' O'Brien said.

"Like we do every year, we'd done all of our homework on those boys. We spent a lot of time looking into the boys' character, visiting their families, just trying to get as complete a picture as we could about them.''

MAN OF STEEL: Nic Naitanui celebrates with the crowd after his match-winning goal. Picture: Daniel Wilkins Source: PerthNow

"We went through it all and came to the conclusion that every one of those guys would bring something good to a footy club.''

He said the Eagles decided "pretty late'' that Naitanui was going to be their man.

"To be honest (whether to take Watts) wasn't a decision we had to make because we did get that late inkling that Jack was going to Melbourne and Nic was going to be available at No.2, which saved a bit of debate.''

THE TOP 10

Selections in the 2008 AFL national draft
1 Jack Watts (Melb)
2 Nic Naitanui (WC)
3 Stephen Hill (Frem)
4 Hamish Hartlett (Port)
5 Michael Hurley (Ess)
6 Chris Yarran (Carl)
7 Daniel Rich (BL)
8 Tyrone Vickery (Rich)
9 Jack Ziebell (NM)
10 Phil Davis (Adel/GWS)

HONOURS

PREMIERSHIP PLAYERS
11 Steele Sidebottom (Coll)
29 Dayne Beams (Coll)
30 Daniel Hannebery (Syd)
73 Leigh Brown (Coll)

CLUB CHAMPIONS
22 Jackson Trengove (Port)
23 David Zaharakis (Ess)
29 Beams (Coll)

ALL AUSTRALIANS
2 Nic Naitanui (WC)
29 Beams (Coll)

CAPTAINS
10 Phil Davis (Adel/GWS)

RISING STARS
7 Daniel Rich (BL)
30 Daniel Hannebery (Syd)

SOME OTHER NOTABLES
16 Ryan Schoenmakers (Haw)
18 Luke Schuey (WC)
21 Hayden Ballantyne (Frem)
31 Jordan Roughead (WB)
34 Liam Shiels (Haw)
39 Steven Motlop (Geel)
40 Mitch Robinson (Carl)
44 Rory Sloane (Adel)
49 Taylor Hunt (Geel)