How Patrick Cripps can unlock Blues and reach truly elite status
With this year’s AFLX competition in the books and the JLT Community Series around the corner, teams are slowly ramping up their preparation for what is sure to be a blockbuster home and away season in the AFL.
While the AFLX was mostly a glorified charity match which didn’t involve many aspects of what makes regular season games enthralling, the introduction of the ‘game-changer’ element proved to be something that teams could potentially build on.
According to this year’s AFLX rules, each team could nominate one player on the team as the ‘game-changer’ whose points would be worth double in the final five minutes of the second half.
What ensued was Carlton’s Patrick Cripps turning into a wrecking ball for the eventual AFLX champions Team Rampage.
Cripps ran riot after being unleashed up forward during the AFLX AAP
Cripps caught fire in each of Team Rampage’s final games, finishing the night as the leading point-scorer with 96 points.
Cripps’ captain on the night, Richmond star Jack Riewoldt, admitted that he may have played a part in “creating a monster” by sticking the Carlton skipper up forward as the game-changer.
“I think Brendon Bolton might look at tonight and see the [Cripps] playing at full-forward and actually think he could use that as a weapon for his arsenal,” Riewoldt said after the win.
“Halfway through that last half, I started thinking, ‘What have I done? I’ve created a monster’.”
Cripps has been a clearance king for a number of seasons but could elevate his game to a frightening level AAP
After being drafted with the 13th pick in the 2013 draft, Cripps has ascended into one of the league’s most dynamic midfielders, and is the unquestioned centrepiece of Carlton’s list rebuild.
Cripps was largely on the periphery in his debut season, playing just three games, but has increased his disposals per game average in every season since his first, save for an injury-interrupted 2017 where he appeared in just 15 games and averaged a lousy 24.9 touches per contest.
One thing that immediately sets the 23-year-old apart is his immaculate physique.
Standing at 195cm and weighing in at 93kg, Cripps is the prototypical modern-day midfielder.
Cripps' rare combination of size and strength means he could be a potent option to pinch hit up forward AAP
He is extremely strong through the core and broad through the shoulders, and he has put his physique to good use, morphing into one of the league’s premier clearance players.
In an outstanding 2018 season which saw him named in the All-Australian team for the first time, he was second to only Brownlow Medallist Tom Mitchell in clearances per game at 7.6, and tied with 2017 Brownlow Medallist Dustin Martin for second in centre clearances per game with 3.3, per AFL.com stats.
However, the one dynamic where Cripps could reach a scary level is his ability to damage opponents on the scoreboard.
Over the past 10 seasons, as midfielders have gradually gotten taller, stronger and faster, it has become common for midfielders to ‘rest’ in the forward line.
Cripps could emulate Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield who has become a prolific goal-kicking midfielder AAP
Two of the last three Brownlow Medallists and Martin and Patrick Dangerfield have become the most dangerous exponents of going forward and damaging, having kicked 68 and 69 goals, respectively over the past two seasons.
Perhaps Dangerfield’s finest effort over the last two seasons came after an injury early in a game against Hawthorn forced him to play permanently out of the forward line where he kicked five goals for the Cats.
Richmond has often isolated the forward line leaving Martin as the deepest forward to wreak havoc on opposing defenders.
In comparison to the elite duo, Cripps has averaged just 18 goals within the same time period.
Adding more goals to his game could truly see Cripps in the same class as the likes of Richmond's Dustin Martin AAP
The problem for the Blues and Cripps himself is that, given the immense load on his shoulders in the midfield, Carlton simply has not been able to afford the luxury of Cripps in the forward line.
The hope for the Blues is that with No.1 pick Sam Walsh in the ranks, that Cripps can gradually add the goalkicking side to his game, in order to make the Blues a more potent offensive team.
A look at the league’s leading midfielders with inside 50 entries during the 2018 season also shows a list that is littered with stars.
Martin again was near the top of the list with 5.9 per game, while GWS Giants star Josh Kelly also ranked in the top five, at 5.6 Inside 50s per game.
The Blues co-captain is the face of the club and a vital piece in its rebuild towards a flag AAP
Marks inside 50 also tell the tale of how rarely Cripps is able to get forward, with his 10 marks inside 50 ranking well behind Martin’s 17 and Dangerfield’s 20.
For a club of its stature, Carlton have been dormant for far too long, having not made a preliminary final since 2000.
It has been unparalleled grief for fans of the club, while conversely, fans of rival clubs have been able to rejoice at the repeated failures of the old enemy.
However, slowly but surely, Blues list manager Stephen Silvagni, the man who was behind the Giants’ strong list, has put together a strong young core with the likes of Walsh, Jacob Weitering and Charlie Curnow flanking Cripps.
While the Blues did whiff on securing the services of star midfielder Dylan Shiel over the trade period, the key to opening up their next premiership window may be sitting in the engine room already.
Beware of the AFL’s biggest sleeping giant.
