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THE PLIGHT of gravely ill former club president Richard Pratt was a powerful motivating factor in Carlton's surprisingly heavy win over the Western Bulldogs according to coach Brett Ratten.
"We had a lot of motivation. We knew Dick was at home watching the game, so to give him a performance from his favourite team to sit back and watch was very pleasing," Ratten said.
"I think it would have made the two hours that he watched the game very enjoyable.
"We didn't go over the top about it, but we thought it would be very nice if we could do something enjoyable for him over that two hours of the telecast.
"He's done so much for our club and he's just been a wonderful person to us so we thought we could actually repay him with a really good hard tough performance."
The Dogs were wasteful in front of goal early which Ratten said made for a nice a role reversal for his side that has struggled to kick accurately itself in recent weeks.
"That's a confidence thing and it's hard when you make a focus of it as a team or on individuals about it," he said of the efficient 21.7 output of his team.
"You can get the yips or you can go the other way and correct it. I think to our credit the boys responded accordingly."
The Blues received excellent service from Andrew Carrazzo, Heath Scotland and Michael Jamison who all came into the side this week along with notable inclusion Setanta O'hAilpin.
"I thought his impact [back] into AFL footy was fantastic. He was bouncy, vibrant and some of the things he did [showed] he was right on top of his game," Ratten said of the Irishman who served a club-imposed suspension for kicking teammate Cameron Cloke in a pre-season match.
"I think it's a good story for anyone who's had a few hiccups along the way.
"He would probably tell anyone that he just got frustrated with his body that couldn't do the things that he wanted to do and he was a lot further behind some of the players in that pre-season.
"He vented his frustrations and copped his whack and moved on. It's the old traditional 'head down and bum up'. He's really bounced back and responded great."
