Welcome Welcome to Hawthorn : Nick 'the Wizard' Watson! Rising star Nom!

[Hodginator]

Imagine being Ginni and Wiz and being lucky enough to learn your craft under the likes of Breust, Wingard and Moore.

Conversely, I imagine he’d be able to learn a lot from one of the games elite small backs in Blake Hardwick as well.

 

[GinniAndTonic]

Can he eventually push into the midfield?

 

[Blackhawk42]

I wonder what is the biggest growth spurt in history a player has had after being drafted . The biggest I can think of are the likes of Joey Kennedy started at the hawks at 185 cm but was 189 at the swans .

Sam Darcy

'Since joining the Dogs in November last year, the teenager has grown an astounding 5.5 centimetres, bringing him to 209.5 centimetres, which makes the now 19-year-old taller than Melbourne captain Max Gawn and Hawthorn big man Ned Reeves and among the tallest in the competition.'

 

[Billyc]

Anyone else see Brent Harvey similarities in this footage (apart from the stature of course)?

Just like Harvey had the Wizard looks to have that natural balance that is a trademark of a great player (little bit of GAJ in there as well).

I see forward half Robbie Gray and forward half GAJ in the way he plays. Very strong overhead for his size, super agile and brilliant on both sides of his body. He’s smaller than those guys and I don’t think he will be able to transition to midfield like them but he doesn’t need to. I think he will be a star small forward who becomes every Hawk fans favourite player

 

[naysayer]

Can he eventually push into the midfield?

I think that like Chad and Cyril, he'll always be more of a forward than a mid, due to his unique abilities in front of goal, but I don't see why he couldn't play a role in the middle.

 

[Mr Lizard]

Top of the square set shot?

Round the corner, of course. He's the Wizard!

 

[LRobbo]

Watching Wizard and Ginni getting stuck into a bog average Essendon defence in round 1 is going to be a sight to behold

 

[Sixpence]

Can he eventually push into the midfield?

We don't need him to. We have enough guys pushing for only a few midfield spots already.

 

[MrPremiership]

 

[MrPremiership]

Cult hero

Pumped

 

[MrPremiership]

Hill, Stengle/Miers, Kosi/Fritsch..

You could say small forwards have been handy in the past few grand finals..

Fritsch is 188cm.......not a small



I like the Kosi comparison, and that's what Wiz will bring to our forward line

 

[KermitJagger]

Hill, Stengle/Miers, Kosi/Fritsch..

You could say small forwards have been handy in the past few grand finals..

I reckon a more cogent point is that good teams have good lists, and good lists include good small forwards. If it was genuinely that much of a difference maker then it'd be hard to explain how in 2 of those years the team with the better small forwards lost - because Charlie Cameron and Tom Papley are respectively much better than Hill and Stengle.

 

[unitedhawk]

I'm prepared for the daggers aimed toward me with this opinion. I'm not here to try to get a rise from anyone but here it goes

I think for the draft price we paid, Watson needs to be a Cyril type talent. My preference was Curtin- I feel his assets will translate better in AFL. If he fails as a backman he could be thrown in the middle, If that doesn't work he could go forward. Watson can only really play as a small - Pickett type forward. If he doesn't work out there then he'd be a bust.

Just a bit annoyed that there were 2 KPD size players in Curtin and O'Sullivan that we passed on.

I guess time will tell on whether our recruitment team made the right choice.

One thing I picked up about Watson is that he seems like a little angry ant with a point to prove - I hope he goes all out and do well. There's nothing I'd want more from him than to be proved wrong.

My personal preference was Curtin too but I'm 100% behind MM and Sam's decision, based on the simple principle that they know what we need a heck of a lot better than I do.

Sam's mantra has always been to focus on a player's strengths. That, allied with our attacking game-plan, makes me think Watson will be a perfect fit in our forward line.

The first thing I did, after last night's coverage ended, was to go and have another look at our new recruit's highlights on youtube. I found it hard to get to sleep after that as I kept replaying those highlights in my head. Fair to say I'm EXCITED!

Welcome to the greatest club in the world, Wiz!

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

As I posted in the draft thread, someone involved in list management at another club told me recently that his deceleration and ability to go from top speed to stopping and stepping a player is something clubs had never seen before in all their testing.

Combine that quick twitch explosiveness with his footy nous which is clear for all to see and you’ve got a very exciting player who’s going to make others look silly, and then get up in their face.

What’s not to like.

 

[MC_9]

I'm nut sure why so many are keen to move him into the midfield. We already bat deep there, he will play forward for the next 15 years.

Was hoping we would pick up a KP player, as I think we are short of quality KP. However very excited to see the Wizard light up the G, and have that forward pocket pairing sewn up with Ginni for the next 10 years.

 

[Yardie]

A guy I went to high school with would’ve been similar height to Watson at the end of year 12. Saw him a couple years later at the supermarket and he would’ve been about 6’2”. So it’s possible.

One of my best friends was around 5'10" at the end of year 12 (17 years old). End of first year uni went to 6'7".

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

It would be great if this thread didn’t become a “will he or won’t he grow any more” discussion for the next 6 months +.
It’s already doing my head in.

 

[Adebisi]

Nice.
What’s with the oversized novelty ball though?

 

[Ned Ryerson]

It would be great if this thread didn’t become a “will he or won’t he grow any more” discussion for the next 6 months +.
It’s already doing my head in.

Marc Pittonet’s hands like this post.

 

[MrPremiership]

It would be great if this thread didn’t become a “will he or won’t he grow any more” discussion for the next 6 months +.
It’s already doing my head in.

How big are his hands though?

 

[Brishawk]

Can he eventually push into the midfield?

I think there is a good chance we would use him (in time) in burts out the the centre like we did with rioli. Reeves is a fair chance to win a hit out and could just tap it to space and let the wiz run onto it.

4P believes he can play on the wing also.

 

[KermitJagger]

It would be great if this thread didn’t become a “will he or won’t he grow any more” discussion for the next 6 months +.
It’s already doing my head in.

The fitness team to Wiz as soon as he walks into the club:

 

[KermitJagger]

I think there is a good chance we would use him (in time) in burts out the the centre like we did with rioli. Reeves is a fair chance to win a hit out and could just tap it to space and let the wiz run onto it.

4P believes he can play on the wing also.

I'd be expecting him to at least play a bit part in there. We used to rotate Cyril, Breust and at stages Puopolo through the middle. Gives us a different look.

 

[cryptor]

As I posted in the draft thread, someone involved in list management at another club told me recently that his deceleration and ability to go from top speed to stopping and stepping a player is something clubs had never seen before in all their testing.

And that's likely got to do a lot with his smaller size too for those hoping he'll have a massive growth spurt.

This guy won't even need to drop his knees or shrug his shoulders to draw a head high free.

 

[Bugs1977]

Welcome the HFC Wiz. Big shoutout to my stress ball which held up pretty well last night.