Neeld said moving Watts forward had been discussed at match committee, as had the possibilities of playing Stefan Martin - who has played just two games this season - or bringing in first round draft pick Lucas Cook to make his debut.
Watts has re-ignited his career since moving into a sweeping half-back role in 2012, and is one of Melbourne’s success stories for the year.
Neeld also joked that defender James Frawley had been knocking on his door to see whether he could follow fellow defenders Jared Rivers and Col Garland into the forward 50 after their success in front of goal in recent weeks.
Regardless of who it is, Neeld won't be expecting them to replicate the form of Clark, although it would be nice.
"It is about people coming in and playing their role and perhaps a different role," Neeld said.
Clark has kicked 29 of Melbourne's 119 goals this season and has been a dominant presence in the forward 50. He has attracted the best opposition defender and given his teammates a lift when required and stemmed the flow with a timely goal. He has also been able to pinch-hit in the ruck.
"We just want someone to come in and understand the role that we want them to play so one of Martin or Cook or Frawley or Jack Watts could go down there," Neeld said.
"We feel we play better footy with two tall target forwards and we'll try to get the best mix to make sure that play that way."
Clark underwent surgery on his injured foot on Wednesday night and the early reports were positive.
"The report that I got is that he is expecting a full recovery and he is right for day one of pre-season," Neeld said.
In the meantime, Melbourne looks set to continue with the experiment of pushing Rivers and Garland forward although Neeld said that was far from certain. The duo kicked seven goals between them against Greater Western Sydney.
Whether such moves became long-term solutions remained to be seen.
"[It] worked for a week and sometimes when people come back from injury they get up for the first week and [then] some people struggle to replicate that in the second week," Neeld said.
