Ratts said that Bootsma's nickname is ''The Meerkat'' as named by the players....a new cult figure.

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No ones listening till you make a mistake.

Take 4 pts and a 10 goal win any day.
Third 10 goal win in 6 rounds.

We had 22 more shots at goal, we only won by 67.
13 players missed shots at goal.
We missed more than 10 'easy shots'. Could've won by 100.

Really pleased to see them have a dip after half time.
GWS are a real competitive bunch. WE had a very good win in a strange match.

I felt we continue to miss Carrazzo's influence at the stoppages whilst tagging their best.

I wondered why Robbo didn't play a bigger role in their...of at least have an influence in the guts.
Ellard is great in that he tries and tries all day, tackle after tackle, but we need more than that in terms of class.

My BOG was Hampson... followed by Kreuzer, Simpson, Murphy and Robinson.
Hendo and Jammo are so solid and add run to their KP role. Gives us stability.
Walker is in really good form imo. and I know he'll get better too.

Look forward to an injection of pace from Judd and Yarran next week.
Waite will add a bit more marking power and class to the forwardline next week, although I thought TBird and also Bower were at their best today. IMO Laidler and Waite will push out TBird and Bower if all are fit.

Another loss for Sheedy in the Carlton column ..mmmm feels good.
Well done Blues.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

The "live" ladder has us on top for now .

Pretty much agree with most other posters. Terrible game to watch, full credit to GWS who were very hard at the ball and we were not for most of it.
Our kicking for goal was terrible as was our entry into the forward line, should have won by 100 points but will take the 4 points epecially coming off a game in Perth which often takes a bit out of many teams.
At least we finished off well and was so pleased for Bootsma who must think he has a huge following after today, good effort by him.
Hope Setanta's injury is not too bad, didnt look good and he was on crutches after the game.
Must play better next week if we hope to beat the Saints.

A few signs that we ve finally arrived:
a) We played like absolute crap for most of the day and still won by 11 goals
b) Even though we won by such a big margain, Ratts was still pretty p*ssed off after the game.
c) With Waite not playing, and Jeffy and Eddie virtually invisible all day, the lesser light forwards in Hammer and T-Bird stood up with 3 goals each.

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James Hird and Essendon* FC - #FOREVERDRUGCHEATS

One of the ugliest games my son and I have had the misfortune to watch for a long time. Mot switched on at all. Far too congested, too many mistakes, no-one really endeavoured to,stand up,in the absence of Judd and Waite. Hammer was good, Bower was ok, Simmo good, Jamo good. Russell also. Can't see that sort of performance beating teams like the Hawks, Cats, even Pies now. Nowhere near tough enough. Lots of discussion about training loads. Training load doesn't mean you kick to the opposition or do stupid things, and there was plenty of that.

Gibbs to me is a worry. He is either injured or doesn't care. I won't hear of the "quarterback" praise. He did not put in and chase his opponent on several occasions and generally looked very slow. Stood around and observed the game rather than put in. That might be heresy, but that's my view from what I saw.

I dearly want the team to do well this year, but they will need to pick up their game compared to what was displayed today.

Radio said that Setant may have done an ACL. If so, that's shocking news and I feel for him.

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also on twitter @m_j_short

Stinker of a game. Players clearly didn't care that much about doing more than the bare minimum today.

Still, 10 goal win is handy.

Andrew Walker was very average today and incredibly selfish in some passages of play.

Was impressed with Hampson and Bower though.

Yep......we played very poorly in the first half; as though we didn't have to try too hard to win.

Pleased with Bower and Hammer and Jamison and Kreuzer; Simmo and Walker and Scotland.

I too am mystified with Gibbs....so much talent and yet; he can't or doesn't dominate as I thought he would.....I'd love to see him bore in for the ball as the Dominator did in the CFC guernsey.

Carrots is a huge loss; but we have to cope with injuries....Ellard is a real trier; but hasn't the class.

Joseph is in the same category; as is Russell, who did some good things and some stupid things as well.....oh well......an 11 goal win has got to be good doesn't it?

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No ones listening till you make a mistake.

What everyone is missing is that we beat a Sheedy coached team by 11 goals while we were pretty average.

Shove that Sheeds.

Anyone who is complaining when we have lost one game and have a healthly percentage needs to get a grip.

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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" -Winston Churchill

L.M 35-06

Not happy that we don't appear to making and signs of progress on our mental strength.

Like the Essendon* game we weren't able to rise above our opponents when it mattered.

The predictable GWS fade out was the only reason we can walk away from this game with 4pts. A more mature team would have beaten us with the effort we put in today.

Pleased that Ratten was not happy after the game. Hope he gives the players a kick up the arse.

Bootsma.

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Reckon Ratts was a little harsh in the presser assuming he was referring to AJ & Ellard. Missing Carrots, Judd, Waite, Laidler, Curnow, Yazz.. safe to say 30% of starting 18? I think we did OK but need more mids in this years draft.

Yeah, nah.

You can excuse a lack of talent, but not lack of effort. AJ/Ellard had plenty of mates. The outs next week could be interesting.

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JR made some elementary mistakes; like kicking to the opposition more than once.....we expect more from a player with his games total.

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No ones listening till you make a mistake.

JR made some elementary mistakes; like kicking to the opposition more than once.....we expect more from a player with his games total.

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No ones listening till you make a mistake.

shocking game of football

not sure if the last 40 minutes was gws running out of gas or us lifting our intensity from first gear to second.

so many missed targets, fumbles and half arsed efforts. our entries inside 50 ( 63 of them) were mostly woeful! either to the pockets or to nobody in particular.

however the biggest worry for me was that we were smashed in the clearances by a bunch of teenagers and an old man who retired 2 seasons ago!

I forgot to add that Jamison looked like he was moving a lot more freely this week and playing with more confidence too.

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About a week ago we nicknamed bootsma "the lamb"

He has a striking resemblance to a lamb. The hair, the face, the long skinny legs. Loved his cameo! Not sure how much game time he's going to see this year though

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^^^^ THIS!

This.
Early in the 3rd, mark on hbf, 4 or 5 teammates nearby along half back line and NONE ran to provide an option.
At least we played with more focus in the last and got done what we had to do.
Re: those who didn't cement their spot...
Thornton was pretty good but he could have had so much more impact & intensity and made it so much harder for Ratts to sideline him.
When Bootsma wants the footy is that a Booty Call?