AFL Career
The Dockers surprised many when they selected Bootsma with their only pick in the 2000 pre season draft (2nd overall). Bootsma was recruited at the late age of 27, with the club handing over the number 40 jumper previously worn by Luke Toia, Jess Sinclair and rookie list player Darren Bolton. Bootsma was a hard working type of player.
After spending the first seven rounds of the 2000 season playing in the WAFL with South Fremantle, Bootsma was selected to make his debut in Round 8 against Collingwood at the Docklands Stadium in a rare (for AFL) Monday night game. A more than serviceable game saw Bootsma end up playing played 13 games in his debut season.
Bootsma played the first 10 games of 2001 and had more than 20 possessions in 5 of them. However, the tumultuous round 10 match against Richmond, Ben Allan's first as caretaker coach after Damien Drum was sacked, would be Bootsma's last, due initially to a knee injury and later he was unable to break into the team eager to rebuild for the future. He would remain on the Fremantle list for the 2002 season, but did not play another senior game. He retired from AFL football at the end of 2002.
Read more about this topic: Brad Bootsma
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“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)