For Carlton To Arrive, Patrick Cripps Needs A Lot More Help

Last updated: Aug 11, 2020, 5:28AM | Published: Aug 11, 2020, 5:27AM

West Coast’s weekend defeat of Carlton felt especially mean-spirited – the Eagles didn’t just inflict a loss, but also a reminder of everything that Carlton doesn’t have.

For almost three quarters, Carlton outplayed West Coast.

Their pressure around the ball sapped the Eagles of space and never allowed them to get comfortable. They killed space without the ball and spread into it with purpose and pace when they did have it. They were calm and efficient, while the Eagles were jittery.

Even as the Blues controlled the game, though, it felt like a storm was always coming.

Eventually, that storm came, unlike the literal storm that was forecast, and that was enough to end Carlton.

West Coast won the match with a devouring performance in midfield.

In the first half the edge in the middle loomed but narrow misses - a commanding clearance missed by a split-second fumble, a fast break cut off by a Carlton defender - stopped West Coast from making the advantage decisive.

At the end of the third quarter, though, everything finally clicked for West Coast. The clearances became too clean and overwhelming, and the bursts from stoppages put Carlton defenders under siege, forced to defend on lonely islands against monsters.

Fittingly, the Eagles took the lead with the cleanest clearance of all. Nic Naitanui palmed the ball from the centre bounce to Luke Shuey, who gave a deft, perfect handball to a breaking Tim Kelly, who took the ball and exploded into one of his crazed, darting dashes into space through the centre square, then drilled a pass to Jack Darling deep inside 50.

Carlton, to their credit, responded, but Dom Sheed put the game out of reach with two sumptuous final quarter goals - one a wonderful sliding pass through goal, the other a kind of sweet, whipping hook.

In the end, Carlton lost because their midfield was inadequate against perhaps the best midfield in the game.

The Blues have one midfield superstar and the Eagles have four in Naitanui, Kelly, Shuey and Elliot Yeo, and another star in Andrew Gaff, while Dom Sheed isn't far off.

Patrick Cripps has cut an impressive but kind of bleak lone figure in the Carlton midfield over the past few years.

Despite having a down past five weeks, Cripps still leads the league in clearances per game and is fifth in contested possessions. He ranked in the top two in both of those stats in each of 2018 and 2019. He's a bull, and alongside Nat Fyfe, is the most commanding midfield presence in the game for sheer physical authority- someone who just feels less human than everyone else.

With his ridiculous 195cm and 92kg frame, Cripps is impossible to contain at stoppages.

He doesn't have the typical class or deft skill of other champion midfielders, but his volume of violence around the ball is more impactful than a finessed kick to advantage. His ability in the air, like Nat Fyfe, is another separator. His second quarter one-handed mark inside-50 against West Coast was one of the game's most improbable moments.

But outside of rare superhuman occasions - like his 38-disposal, 4-goal masterpiece against Brisbane last year, one of the best games a midfielder has played - Cripps cannot beat quality teams by himself.

Despite eight clearances, he was subdued against the Eagles, with just 19 disposals and 224 metres gained. On the other side, Sheed and Kelly each had 500+ metres gained, while no Blue topped Matthew Kennedy's 307. The Eagles controlled stoppages, with a +11 edge in clearances, but it was the speed and precision of those clearances that was so devastating.

Naitanui, Kelly, Shuey and Yeo are all game-breakers with their pace, strength and athleticism. The Carlton midfield was made to look slow and depressingly like regular people in comparison. Carlton lacked West Coast's zip and power around stoppages, with Cripps the only card to play for athleticism to match the Eagles.

There is still a lot of Ed Curnow about Carlton's midfield, which is too workmanlike and not explosive enough against the elite.

The Blues rank a respectable 7th in clearances per game and 9th in contested possessions - but much of this is Cripps, with only two Blues ranking in the top 110 for clearances per game or contested possessions per game. Sam Walsh is the future, and a still productive Marc Murphy is the past, yet the Blues desperately more need star-quality reinforcements for next season if they're to take another step.

The rest of the team has come a long way. The defence, behind pillars in Jacob Weitering and Sam Docherty, is solid, while the forward line is loaded with high-potential talent. The midfield has some way to go however, and if they're to leap into the same air as the Eagles over the next couple of years, they'll need more power on the ground.

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Jay Croucher

Based in Denver, Colorado, Jay splits time between worshiping Nikola Jokic and waking up at 3am to hazily watch AFL games. He has been writing about AFL, NBA and other US sports since 2014, and has suckered himself into thinking Port Adelaide was the real deal each year since.