#killbootsma

[Master Q]

Who's with me?

[Jay]

Tbh, Yarran should have won you guys the game before Bootsma made that mistake.

[Nige]

Still not sure why he was played over Laidler... ::)

[Bill Manspeaker]

Tbh, Yarran should have won you guys the game before Bootsma made that mistake.

this

if you're gonna blame anyone, it should be Yarran

Still not sure why he was played over Laidler... ::)

but this aswell

[RiOtChEsS]

could not believe that we were even in the game at the end, we were awful ::)

[Mat0369]

I feel bad for the kid. Forget the rest of the team did not show up for 3 quarters, Yarran had two chances on goal and missed both so on and so forth, everyone will focus on that incident of a kid who still does not have the frame to play league football. He should not have been out there tonight. Laidler should have played, yet did not, and instead Boots will be looked at as the sacrificial lamb by a bunch of people when if the team was good enough, they would have been up at that point regardless.

[kilbluff1985]

cant blame him when the team kicked 14 goals 17 behinds :o

Tigers were just as bad at goal to 14 goals 22 behinds

[Justin Bieber]

Bootsma had an average game, but Carlton never deserved to be close so don't one player

[blue]

yarran had the chance to win the game. As for Bootsma I was suprised when he was named, but the young man has put on some bulk from last year, sure he made some mistakes, but i was impressed by his improvement. Last year i was scared every time he touched the ball

[blue]

how about the kill malthouse instead. we were lucky to be in front at 1/4 time get flogged for 3/4. then let the boys lose in the last 1/4 and we go bang. please dont tell me this is dennis pagan all over again

[Mat0369]

how about the kill malthouse instead. we were lucky to be in front at 1/4 time get flogged for 3/4. then let the boys lose in the last 1/4 and we go bang. please dont tell me this is dennis pagan all over again

I don't blame the loss on Boots at all. I said it earlier in the week and all everyone did was jump all over me for it. Nothing against Boots, he is a great kid and for a player of his build I love his attack on the ball. Go back and watch the Melbourne and Hawthorn games from last year. Melbourne had a lot of young kids playing and he was not forced to take the 3rd tall. The Hawks game, he was just out positioned by his larger opponents at the contest and he looked in all sorts of trouble. Ratten was forced to pull the sub early because he looked out of his depth at that point. You could tell he needs a couple of seasons to get the body bulked up and get the strength to play on larger opponents. He should then be taking the oppositions medium sized forward where he can use his height, although he is not exceptionally tall at 190 cm, to his advantage on a smaller opponent.  But at this point of his career he should not be getting a game ahead of Laidler.

I still shake my head at how Laidler was not named in the team. He and Scotland are the two best players in the team at zoning off their opponents and marking the ball off opposition kicks. Considering Richmond decided to take in a mature bodied team, Carlton had to play Laidler. He could have either matched up on McGuane or he has taken the resting ruck at various times in his career and could have been thrown onto Vickery. It might just be me but I thought there were a few questionable moves on the night as to matchups and positions. Considering Deledio was absolutely killing the Blues, I thought Armfield might have been moved to him in a tagging role. It would have allowed them to keep Carrots on Cotchin and it would have given them someone who had the speed to go with Deledio. Although his offensive capabilities are limited, Dennis has line breaking speed and can tackle well. Ratts used him a couple of times last year as a forward tagger. He did an excellent job on Heath Shaw in the Collingwood games and he might have been able to slow Deledio down which for the first 3 quarters was Richmonds best player. I was also wondering why Brock McLean was lined up on a half forward flank. He is not exactly a great lead up player and his strength is the in and under at the contest. He does not have exceptional pace to be playing off a flank either.  I was surprised Walker was played back late in the game with Yaz up forward. Considering Yarran was struggling to get a kick and Walker is one of the better set shot goals in the team, I thought he would have made the switch. Yarran would have still given the Blues the run Walks was providing while also providing another marking target up forward. Casboult looked out of sorts and Hammer was the only guy who could take a consistent mark in the forward line.

One of Bell or Curnow has to come into the team next week to help out in the middle. They are both big bodied players who can win clearances.


The difference between Malthouse and Pagan is that Pagan had a lot less talent to work with. It won't be an easy 3 weeks with 3 quality sides coming up. I expect them up for the Pies game, but then they have very good opposition in the Cats and Eagles in Perth. It will be interesting to see how long the honeymoon period lasts with Malthouse. Ratts was sacked for not making the 8 when they expected top 4 last year.

[blue]

I must admit that i did like walkers game down back and didnt like yarrans down foward. good to see hampson clunk a few

[Mat0369]

I must admit that i did like walkers game down back and didnt like yarrans down foward. good to see hampson clunk a few

Walker was a gun when he was playing half back before he did his shoulder. He was the only guy in the back half who could play on guys like an O'Keefe. There was a game a few years back where Carlton were playing the Swans at Etihad, it was not long after after Walker injured his shoulders. O'Keefe was smashing Carlton and went through a couple of opponents before Walker went to him. Walker was able to nullify his influence and then injured the shoulder again. O'Keefe then went on to dominate again and finished the game with 3 brownlow votes. The one thing that stopped him from becoming elite in that role was his field kicking. He often missed targets he should hit. If I remember correctly after coming back from the shoulder injuries and drifting in and out of the team, he asked Ratten to play him forward or he would request a trade since he felt his skills were better utilized in the forward end of the ground. The one thing that did stop him from being such a damaging forward early in his career was his set shot goal kicking. That improved remarkably so he actually became a very dangerous forward option. Honestly, Walkers best position would be on the wing and rotating through the guts. His running capacity is elite and better then anyone else at the club. If you let him play between the arcs and push forward from the wing to take a couple of marks and kick a goal, it would work better to his skill set. Running ability is elite, overhead ability for a guy his size is elite, he is great at ground level, hard at it, can kick well at goal. I would rather have Yarran running the ball out from half back with his speed and kicking ability and have Walker floating around and pushing forward to try and snag a couple of shots on goal a game.

I think one of the best moves Ratten made as a coach was getting Yarran to half back. He provided a lot of run and carry and the ability to break the lines while delivering the ball into the forward line with clean disposal. Yaz was one of the more important players for a while there, when he was out, Carlton would struggle as they had no one else who could fill that role and they would turn it over coming out of the back half on countless occasions. Walker can provide that, but moving him back takes away another marking and roving option up forward. If Yarran was not in the team at all, the Walker move makes sense, but when Yarran is in the team, I think Yaz needs to play either at half back or on the wing to break the lines. He is better then Lucas in that role at least. Walks should then either play at high half forward and rotate on the wing and through the guts.

I had an argument with my mate over Hammer after the game. He said that Hampson was a spud and should not be in the team next week, I pretty much told him he is on crack if he thought Hampson was the biggest problem with the team. He was taking the big marks which he needed to and if he couldn't was trying to tap it to advantage of the guys at his feet to set up goals. His tap work for a resting ruck is exceptional (was going over 60% for hit outs to advantage), was the only forward who could take a mark inside 50 and was providing contests around the ground. I honestly did not expect him to kick goals from deep in the pocket or pick up the ball at his feet on a surface where it had just rained for a guy who was standing over 200cm. Unless your name is Dean Cox or Nic Nat, I don't think any ruck will. He is steadily improving season by season and if he can get a couple goals a game while clunking the marks I would be happy. He is important to the structure and does enough around the ground in the ruck to warrant his selection. Especially when Robbie Warnock is a complete dud who can only play in the ruck. Kreuz needs to be the number 1 ruck, Hampson is the best available ruck forward, he gets a game.

[Wes Mantooth]

Of the time I've seen him play, he fair dinkum looks like a rabbit in headlights.

[Jay]

#killwright

Anyone watch the showdown yesterday? >:(