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Demons considering Watts on Riewoldt

3 minute read

Melbourne are considering playing Jack Watts on St Kilda's champion centre half forward Nick Riewoldt in their AFL clash at the MCG on Saturday.

Melbourne are considering playing Jack Watts on St Kilda's champion centre half forward Nick Riewoldt in their AFL clash at the MCG on Saturday.

With key forward Mitch Clark out of the side after suffering concussion, Demons coach Mark Neeld says the club has had discussions about the match-up between the two former No.1 draft picks.

"That would be an interesting match-up wouldn't it?" Neeld said.

"He'd learn a fair bit, see how we go ... there's always a chance of things happening."

Neeld agreed that the best way for a centre half-forward to learn was to play as centre half-back but said he couldn't say any more about positions and risk a fine from the AFL.

He did confirm the 21-year-old would spend some time in the midfield and some time forward.

"He is on a fast learning curve, so we will continue with that this week," Neeld said of Watts, who has been playing on the wing for most of the season.

Co-captain Jack Grimes and Colin Sylvia are back, while Clark is likely to miss a week.

While the Demons are 0-4 to start the season Neeld was buoyed by their performance in their last round 21-point loss to the Western Bulldogs.

He said the players were still upbeat.

"We were pleased that we thought for the most part there was good effort," Neeld said.

"We've been really pleased with the way our training's gone and I think that's the first tell-tale sign."