03-28-2021, 11:37 PM
The old saying of Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics definitely applies here. It comes down to the eye test and Pitonett was poor at centre bounces, Grundy got a lot of clean ball, which he hit away from the immediate area rather than at his hip.
Why does this matter? Well it takes Cripps out of the game. Cripps like to work in a phone booth, on that 1-2 square meters of space where he can use his size and strength to either get hands on the ball or tackle his opponent. What Grundy did by hitting it to space, gave the quicker and better drilled Collingwood mids space to run on to the ball, making Cripps near redundant as he doesn't have speed or explosiveness off the mark.
On a side note, in out two games we have had two periods where we have been dominant in play around the ground. Against Richmond it was the third quarter where we kicked all the points, but Richmond could barely get their hands on the ball. The other was the third/fourth quarter against Collingwood where we came right back and got to 7 points. Both times Cripps was up forward for most of the times, not in the midfield. This allowed our mids to match the opposition in speed and nullified their rucks hitting the ball out to space.
Why does this matter? Well it takes Cripps out of the game. Cripps like to work in a phone booth, on that 1-2 square meters of space where he can use his size and strength to either get hands on the ball or tackle his opponent. What Grundy did by hitting it to space, gave the quicker and better drilled Collingwood mids space to run on to the ball, making Cripps near redundant as he doesn't have speed or explosiveness off the mark.
On a side note, in out two games we have had two periods where we have been dominant in play around the ground. Against Richmond it was the third quarter where we kicked all the points, but Richmond could barely get their hands on the ball. The other was the third/fourth quarter against Collingwood where we came right back and got to 7 points. Both times Cripps was up forward for most of the times, not in the midfield. This allowed our mids to match the opposition in speed and nullified their rucks hitting the ball out to space.