Surely not?! Dees could pay part of Watts' Port salary...

Melbourne GM of Football Josh Mahoney has confirmed the club could be paying some of Jack Watts’ salary, following his move to Port Adelaide.

The Power has given its second-round draft selection, Pick 31, to sign the 26-year-old, who kicked 143 goals in his 153 games for the club, after being selected with Pick 1 in the 2008 national draft.

“I think that is to be done between Paul Connors and ourselves. Possibly (we will be paying for some of his salary),” Mahoney told SEN’s The Run Home.

Mahoney said he understood that some fans would be upset with Watts being traded, but said the easiest decision would have been to “make no decision”, as they look towards their next premiership team.

“We understand the emotion attached to it, which is about performance with Jack. The easiest decision for our club to make would be no decision,” he said.

But we have to make the right decision for the footy club in building the next premiership team, and I back my full time list management team to make that decision.”

He said ideally the club would have liked more than pick 31, but felt the deal was of benefit and the time was right to move on.

“In the end the market forces dictate what a fair trade is,” Mahoney said.

“The process has been documented that Jack spoke to a number of different clubs and there was one club that was interested, and it was a second round pick, and then you deal with that.

“In a perfect world it would’ve been lower down than a second round pick, but we were dealing with Port Adelaide, we got their first pick and we thought the benefit of getting the deal done, we thought it was fair and we move on.”