The Elephant in the room

[Gointocarlton]

He should win the Brownlow based on that one game!

He lifted to another level (if thats possible) on the back of a poor performance last week and the sacking of a man he respects immensely (as shown by his nominating him during his on field interview).

[kruddler]

When I started this thread it really wasn't because I thought Cripps was a 'magnificent beast'.

No the "Elephant in the room" is the fact we'd be pretty much f**ked without his presence at this stage of our development.

It's often said a player was a difference between winning and losing.
It's a bit of a throwaway line sometimes, as there are lots of factors in a game.

But I think that you would probably get general agreement that we wouldn't have won the game yesterday without Cripps.
Other players were great contributors...Walsh, Weitering, Ed Curnow, Kreuzer all had very good games.

But Cripps was colossal.

In  junior football you sometimes get that more mature kid who dominates a game.
It was a bit like that.
A man playing with and against a group of kids.

His play not only brought others into the game but enthused the playing group and the supporters.
The young kids developing around him could have no better example.

No doubt Cripps was an absolute beast that won us the game.

On the other side of the coin...
If we got the same output from Cripps in other games this year, how many more wins would we have on the board?

I'd suggest we certainly wouldn't be sitting last on the ladder with only 2 wins.

Of course thats unreasonable to expect that, but its more about the timing of the performance more than anything else.

[bratblue]

Kouta ‘circa 2000’.

I was reading where Kouta got 125 supercoach points in the last quarter of that prelim.

[Thryleon]

Cripps out means someone else plays in his absence.

Sure that match winning performance is the value of two players but it might have meant a different output from a few players with a winning result.

Not saying we would have won without cripps but we did used to say similar about Judd.

[Tragic]

My simple philosophy on the subject. Would you rather have a genuine gun on your team or be playing against him? It's very nice having one.

[Thryleon]

My simple philosophy on the subject. Would you rather have a genuine gun on your team or be playing against him? It's very nice having one.

absolutely.

In fact you'd rather have 3.

[Lods]

No doubt Cripps was an absolute beast that won us the game.

On the other side of the coin...
If we got the same output from Cripps in other games this year, how many more wins would we have on the board?

I'd suggest we certainly wouldn't be sitting last on the ladder with only 2 wins.

Of course thats unreasonable to expect that, but its more about the timing of the performance more than anything else.

I think you're agreeing with me.

The real strength of the rest our list is best determined when Cripps is either shut out of a game or missing.

How well do other stand up in the absence of his presence and play making?

Hopefully he's not missing too often.

[Lods]

Cripps out means someone else plays in his absence.

Sure that match winning performance is the value of two players but it might have meant a different output from a few players with a winning result.

Not saying we would have won without cripps but we did used to say similar about Judd.

Others do step up in the absence of a gun player.

A coach in a development scenario, with nothing on the line may even be tempted to rest a champ just to test that out.
See which players do step up.

We wont see that this year

[ElwoodBlues1]

If Cripps doesnt play we would get hammered every week, the Nth game showed when he was held we were hopeless, doesnt matter who is coaching either.
One thing Teague needs to do apart from getting in some more A grade mids is change the game plan so we are not so Cripps dependent, its worse than when Judd played IMO...

[LP]

One thing Teague needs to do apart from getting in some more A grade mids is change the game plan so we are not so Cripps dependent, its worse than when Judd played IMO...

I think BB was trying that over the last couple of weeks and it contributed to him losing his job, but reality is that Teague has no job to lose!

I agree, but how do you develop that tactic without penalising Teague?