JACK Watts wants to remain a Demon long-term.

The talented tall – who is contracted until the end of 2016 – says he’s determined to be part of Melbourne’s revival and is eager to build on his second season under Paul Roos in 2015.

“I think last year, I was probably at that point [where I had to decide my future],” he told Dee TV.

“With Roosy coming on board and the mates that I’ve got here at the Melbourne footy club, I love it. I love playing here and I love everyone involved from Roosy down to our property steward, Anthony Brown.

“The people involved are what I love, so I’m certainly keen to spend my time here and build something with the guys that we’ve got.”

Watts said he no longer worried about what people thought about him as a player.

“I can’t do anything about what people say or anything like that,” he said.

“For them, from the outside, it’s just what I do on the footy field, so I’m just trying to clean a few things up from there and continually get better and improve.

“As we get better and better and as the team starts climbing the ladder and [we] get [some] public recognition – and a bit of respect – hopefully that will help out too.”

Watts acknowledged that he – and several other Demons – put too much pressure on themselves at times.

“I would probably say at times that definitely happens. A lot of people, when they speak about playing their best footy, they’re not thinking about anything and they’re just going out there and playing footy,” he said.

“That’s probably where we want to get to and I reckon there’s a lot of guys here who do the same thing – we just think a bit too much about it.

“As I said, the pressure of wanting to perform and because that scrutiny has been there all the time – it’s almost [like saying] ‘if I do one thing wrong, it’s going to come up and someone’s going to say something about it, if I stuff this up’.

“Trying to ignore that and trust yourself and backing yourself in – and just playing your role and doing the simple things will really help improve us.”

Encouragingly, Watts had his best season statistically in 2014, which also included career-best disposals and his first top 10 finish in the club best and fairest.

Although he believed it was his best year to date, he said there was plenty more to achieve.

“I definitely feel like there is a whole lot more to go. It was a consistent year in terms of playing footy and I was lucky with injuries, but … there is still a lot more to go. It’s exciting to think to the future and next year and really get things going,” he said.

“Playing every game was a really good result, but just the form varied a little bit too much for my liking.  

“I started off really well, I thought, early on and then I had a bit of a rough patch and then found some really good form in the middle of the year. I wanted to keep that going all year, but probably the last three or four weeks, it was a bit similar to the team and [I] probably just fell away a bit.”

Watts said Roos had been “amazing” to him since he came to the club. He also praised the coaching staff overall for helping him on and off the field.

“[They have been good with] not only your footy, but you as a person and the relationship they have with you, helps you along the way,” he said.

“We joke about it all of the time, but Roosy has been defending me ever since he’s been here and I couldn’t thank him enough.”

The 23-year-old, who now has six AFL seasons behind him, said he also had aspirations about becoming an official club leader. But he was also adamant he wanted to play his role for the team.

“I’d love to get that official title and it’s something I’ll work towards, but I don’t think I’d change too much about how I go about it already,” he said.

“I like to support the boys and I like to get around blokes and be that friendly guy and try and help out. I probably wouldn’t change that too much going forward.

“If it happens, it happens and that’d be fantastic and I’ll just keep trying to get better in terms of that, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”