Rd. 5 - Pre Game Thread - Blues V Dockers

[crashlander]

Agree....As Carrots suggested...Gibbs and Murphy are passengers in the middle.....

I wouldn't call them 'passengers' yet, but they certainly have NOT fit their game to our new centre system (and visa versa).
I noted especially against the Suns (as I saw the game on TV and looked back later to make sure I wasn't seeing things), a little less so against the Dogs (not as good a view and Murphy wasn't even in the centre that much in that game), that both Gibbs and Murphy were getting the ball, but being either tackled and losing it, or being picked off as they handball to where they appear programmed to think our other mids should be. Our other mids were not where they were handballing it: it usually went directly to Hall or Ablett and the Suns got a pretty good clearance as a result. The Dogs smothered Gibbs and ran the ball out easily.
To be honest, I don't think Graham has been effective in this area either. Last year he was MUCH better at getting clearances and making tackles in the middle. In the pre-season he was our most effective mid, but even then he got a lot of clearances under pressure.
Clearly the opposition was reading our structure better than we were: result, few clearances. I was not surprised to read that we are 18th at the moment.

On the other hand Cripps has not been as effective in the centre square this year either. For one, he gets more attention. Secondly, I think he is also not in sync with our new midfield structure yet either. There have been times when he has ended up trying to chase fast guys - a losing proposition for him.
However, he has really been good around the ground, at ball ups and throw ins. In some ways he has been using his strength and class to get the clearance on his own. And he certainly wills himself to get the ball, much like Judd did a few years back. I am not surprised he is 4th in the competition for clearances: he has been getting the vast majority of ours.