Dunna Heartknee
Club Legend
- Jul 4, 2020
- 1,960
- 6,199
- AFL Club
- Carlton
Our list management got it wrong we went one way while the competition went the other and nothing to do with talent or performance.I don't think Cripps is as gone as so many are saying. He's not what he was last yr but he's not getting any help. Kennedy, Hewett and Curnow have all been worse. Walsh has been getting more ball but his effectiveness has also been in question.
I'm not sure why it happened, but we seem to have changed his role from the attacking centre forward mid from last yr to being a 2 way stay at home mid. We know he's not that, he never has been. Last season we maximised his assets and utilised his strengths to expose other teams, now we've left him on an island. We have known for weeks what teams are doing to Cripps, if not most of the season, yet what have we done to counter it? Who blocks for Cripps so he can run through the contest? Who is handing over to track his man like we did last season? Who is his reliable first receiver? Not Curnow, Kennedy or Hewett, that's for sure, they're all limited outside players and not first receiver types.
I know everyone will say how can you have a player who needs cover and help etc. but it's not new, especially in todays AFL. Oliver, Petracca, Martin, Daicos, Fyfe (in the past), and many others are 1 way mids. But they have structure around them and set up for them to be the attackers to the ball and structure up to cover if they don't win possession. We are leaving Cripps to try and win the ball without support with taggers on him then not covering him when he doesn't win it.
Heck it was exactly the same with Judd and Ablett, both didn't track back and were easily run off. Teams did it all the time to them.
Imo Cripps' form is a symptom and not the cause. FWIW he's only averaging 1 possession fewer than last yr, is averaging more tackles, more contested possessions and only .7 fewer clearances and .07 fewer goal assists. The major difference is goals - 0.95 per game to .09 per game. He's far and away our best contested/clearance player and only 2nd in Walsh in a few other outside categories. The idea that Hewett and Kennedy can do his role just as well is laughable. Kennedy is an average player - we need to accept this now, we've had him for a long time and he's never been reliable, if anything he should be trade bait, but wouldn't get us much - and Hewett has returned to his career mean, a good average role player. Nothing wrong with that, but nowhere close to Cripps level.
Setterfield and Stocker are gone and you can add Dow to that list of players you mentioned we are superfluous in this area it's unbalancing our list.
The question is which of those players that you mentioned has the best trade value?
Which one creates the best cap relief to go after what we need?