PAUL ROOS is still on holidays but Melbourne's Jack Watts has spent the off-season closely following his new coach's plan.
Having failed to reach his full potential under Dean Bailey and Mark Neeld, Watts is embracing the opportunity for a fresh start after Roos helped convince the 2008 No.1 draft pick to remain a Demon.
Roos has earmarked Watts to fill a midfield role in the hope of getting the best out of the 22-year-old.
"I don't know about putting the acid on me, but yeah he wants me going into the midfield, and I'm really excited about that," Watts told reporters after an intense training session on Friday.
"(I'm) feeling really good with my body and my running."
Watts said there was a sense of direction around the football club that wasn’t there before.
"Definitely, a bit of support and you've got a goal to work towards, and everyone at the club is right behind me and all of the boys out there training their arses off," he said.
"That team mentality, team-first type sort of attitude filtering through this club at the moment, it's relieving I guess - hopefully we take that through to games and take it through the year."
Having been out of contract at the end of 2013 Watts, made the decision to stay with the AFL's oldest club.
"Obviously you've got options, but at the end of the day I love this club and I love my teammates and I was pretty clear with my manager that I wanted to stay here," Watts said.
"You just don't want to miss out on those good times after being here for five years, and that's what I really see coming."
Roos has brought a large degree of hype and hope to Demonland, but Watts insists the new boss doesn't need to reinvent the wheel.
"We're going to keep our offensive sort of flare that we've got in this team," he said.
"Roosy's not trying to make us into the Sydney Swans, he's bringing his fundamentals that he knows works and that's what we're really working on this pre-season."
Watts has played 73 games for Melbourne since making his debut on Queen's Birthday 2009.
The 22-year-old is ranked 137 overall is the Official AFL Player Ratings.
Roos returns from his holidays next week.
