Player Watch #31: Bayley ‘Slick’ Fritsch

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Bluelegs said:
Heard Cornes point out that we drafted Fritsch with the pick we got for Watts. Turned out to be an excellent trade really.
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Holy crap haha remember when quite a few on this board thought it was a bad deal 😅
I knew it was gonna be worth it, pick 31 or what was a ****ing steal.
 
Bluelegs said:
Heard Cornes point out that we drafted Fritsch with the pick we got for Watts. Turned out to be an excellent trade really.
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Funny story, I was at the Casey finals game against Willy that year when we were about to trade Wattsy and Fritsch was starring. Kicked maybe 5 goals and was the best forward on the ground. Wattsy had just been on a bender and hadn't slept for 2 days he said.

I felt a cosmic shift happen when we used the pick from Watts on Fritsch and remembered that day. Fritsch is the forward we wanted when we played Wattsy, more or less, despite being significantly smaller and lighter. He's fearless in the air and can contest against bigger defenders. Just as good a ball user too.

How farken good was that huge mark and goal at the start of the 4th with the rain coming down. Thats as clutch as it gets.

Sliding doors and all that.
 

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He’s a ripper. Forward craft as good as anyone in the league and it has to be at his size. Got a 31 on my royal blue jumper last year. Haven’t worn it yet since I rarely wear a guernsey to the footy, but might have to roll it out soon
 
stEdy said:
Funny story, I was at the Casey finals game against Willy that year when we were about to trade Wattsy and Fritsch was starring. Kicked maybe 5 goals and was the best forward on the ground. Wattsy had just been on a bender and hadn't slept for 2 days he said.

I felt a cosmic shift happen when we used the pick from Watts on Fritsch and remembered that day. Fritsch is the forward we wanted when we played Wattsy, more or less, despite being significantly smaller and lighter. He's fearless in the air and can contest against bigger defenders. Just as good a ball user too.

How farken good was that huge mark and goal at the start of the 4th with the rain coming down. Thats as clutch as it gets.

Sliding doors and all that.
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One thing I'll pull ya up on, Watts was a much better kick than Fritta, probably top 2 shots for goal with Jurrah this century and probably the most reliable field kick this century aswell. I can't think of anyone we had who kicked the ball as consistently well as Watts. Maybe Davey but he didn't have the length or set shot accuracy.
 
schmuttt said:
Fritsch for Watts was clearly a win in 2018, surprised anyone thought differently. The inaccuracy of Fritsch has been very frustrating at times but as me and Topkent have said if your forward is generating 3-4 shots on goal every week it is only a matter of time before he turns it around.
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Wasn't someone saying we should drop him? Lol
It annoys the **** out of me when he stuffs up but I'm not gonna be angry at someone who gets into the position week after week.

He's honestly a small tightening up of his game away from being a 40-50 goal forward.
 
Topkent said:
One thing I'll pull ya up on, Watts was a much better kick than Fritta, probably top 2 shots for goal with Jurrah this century and probably the most reliable field kick this century aswell. I can't think of anyone we had who kicked the ball as consistently well as Watts. Maybe Davey but he didn't have the length or set shot accuracy.
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Fritta would be on track for 60-70 goals if he had Watts' kick
 
No argument that Wattsy was a beautiful kick, I played junior footy with him and he was a freak. Could kick them from anywhere, left or right foot.

I just think that at the end of Fritsch's career these couple of seasons of poor goal kicking will be long forgotten, as he's a beautiful set shot and kick inside 50.
 
Topkent said:
One thing I'll pull ya up on, Watts was a much better kick than Fritta, probably top 2 shots for goal with Jurrah this century and probably the most reliable field kick this century aswell. I can't think of anyone we had who kicked the ball as consistently well as Watts. Maybe Davey but he didn't have the length or set shot accuracy.
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Fritsch is as good of a field kick as Watts I think (unless he’s playing in defence), but Watts genuinely one of the best set shots I’ve ever seen. Couldn’t understand as a kid why he couldn’t just find it in himself to try a bit harder and literally just get 3-4 marks up around the forward 50 per game even if he didn’t want to try other than that. His kicking for goal was that good, he didn’t need to do much else to be a gun. Such a waste. Will always remember that 55m bomb he kicked on ANZAC eve 2017, barely even hit the ball.
 
Gysberts2Bate said:
Fritsch is as good of a field kick as Watts I think (unless he’s playing in defence), but Watts genuinely one of the best set shots I’ve ever seen. Couldn’t understand as a kid why he couldn’t just find it in himself to try a bit harder and literally just get 3-4 marks up around the forward 50 per game even if he didn’t want to try other than that. His kicking for goal was that good, he didn’t need to do much else to be a gun. Such a waste. Will always remember that 55m bomb he kicked on ANZAC eve 2017, barely even hit the ball.
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Don't think he ever had the desire to make the most of his natural talents and we didn't have the leadership to change his behaviour when he was young enough to have those good habits instilled into him. Once we had a fresh group of young players he was a liability to their development, his off-field reputation is well earned.

In hindsight, getting rid of him is one of the most underrated list management decisions we've made under Goodwin.
 
Bluelegs said:
Don't think he ever had the desire to make the most of his natural talents and we didn't have the leadership to change his behaviour when he was young enough to have those good habits instilled into him. Once we had a fresh group of young players he was a liability to their development, his off-field reputation is well earned.

In hindsight, getting rid of him is one of the most underrated list management decisions we've made under Goodwin.
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Him and Hogan.
Club was vindicated a million times over. I'm all for blokes doing whatever the **** they want in their spare time but youd wanna be good atleast.
 
Topkent said:
Fritsch ain't as good a field kick as Watts, he's not even the best in this team. Watts is as good as we've had in my life
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Agree, no idea what G2B is smoking, Watts was one of the best field kicks in the league. 😂
 

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Topkent said:
Fritsch ain't as good a field kick as Watts, he's not even the best in this team. Watts is as good as we've had in my life
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Yeah, I haven't seen any better kick at Melbourne than Jack Watts.
 
Headless said:
Yeah, I haven't seen any better kick at Melbourne than Jack Watts.
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TIngay probably up there but I'd still give the edge to Watts just. Both guys excellent on both feet.
 
A tragedy that Jack Watts never realised his potential. He looked liked a guy who had never copped a whack or felt much pain and he wanted to keep it that way. Playing APS, being his size, and living around Bayside I’m guessing he’d never faced much trouble or had to defend himself. Sometimes it’s not until you’ve received a touch up from someone that the fear of being hit seems to disappear. Maybe MFC should have thrown him into the boxing ring early on so he realised that the body can take a bit of punishment. Anyway wish him all the best , probably not a bad guy all said and done.


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They did do boxing camps in pre-season lol, didn't Jonesy and Maloney run them? Just googled; https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/762371/beamers-boxing-camp-diary

Wattsy was always a target to get roughed up. Every opposing team's coach knew he was the best player and would try and tag/niggle him in juniors.

I just don't think he had the appetite and intensity to be a professional footballer (especially playing at CHF). You have to be all-in to bring your best every week.

Interesting to see how he would have gone at Port had he not cooked his leg in R2 after being BOG against us in R1 playing off HBF. Probably would have played a month of good footy then slacked off again. Fair enough - there's plenty of players out there in the AFL like that.
 
stEdy said:
They did do boxing camps in pre-season lol, didn't Jonesy and Maloney run them? Just googled; https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/762371/beamers-boxing-camp-diary

Wattsy was always a target to get roughed up. Every opposing team's coach knew he was the best player and would try and tag/niggle him in juniors.

I just don't think he had the appetite and intensity to be a professional footballer (especially playing at CHF). You have to be all-in to bring your best every week.

Interesting to see how he would have gone at Port had he not cooked his leg in R2 after being BOG against us in R1 playing off HBF. Probably would have played a month of good footy then slacked off again. Fair enough - there's plenty of players out there in the AFL like that.
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Agree with this. His first possession in football resulted in being gang tackled. Late in his career Rance punched Watts in the back of the head and it didn't do anything to 'toughen him up'. At the end of the day he just didn't want it enough.
 
Bluelegs said:
Agree with this. His first possession in football resulted in being gang tackled. Late in his career Rance punched Watts in the back of the head and it didn't do anything to 'toughen him up'. At the end of the day he just didn't want it enough.
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Fair call. If your heart isn’t in it probably doesn’t matter how many hits your body can take .


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I got friends who played Basketball with Wattsy, said he was a super talented but that he didn't give a ****.
Fell out of my chair when I heard that, genuinely couldn't believe it.

Billy Demon said:
A tragedy that Jack Watts never realised his potential. He looked liked a guy who had never copped a whack or felt much pain and he wanted to keep it that way. Playing APS, being his size, and living around Bayside I’m guessing he’d never faced much trouble or had to defend himself.
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Meh I grew up in the Bayside (hampton/ mordialloc) and I copped plenty of beatings.
It's not as rough as other places but every postcode has it's share of hoodlums.
 
Toump Ass said:
I got friends who played Basketball with Wattsy, said he was a super talented but that he didn't give a fu**.
Fell out of my chair when I heard that, genuinely couldn't believe it.

Meh I grew up in the Bayside (hampton/ mordialloc) and I copped plenty of beatings.
It's not as rough as other places but every postcode has it's share of hoodlums.
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Agree 100%, but I’m guessing the Brighton Grammar boys didn’t find much trouble in Church Street , Brighton . Lol


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Player Watch #31: Bayley ‘Slick’ Fritsch

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