Huge concerns for Carlton with superstar Patrick Cripps ‘nowhere near the level he was'

7NEWS

20-05-2025

As Carlton's season continues to splutter along, there are growing concerns over the form of two of the team's biggest names.
Superstar captain and dual Brownlow medallist Patrick Cripps hasn't reached the lofty heights he climbed to last year, and former No.1 draft pick Sam Walsh has been solid without setting the world on fire.
On Channel 7's The Agenda Setters, the spotlight was turned on Cripps, who was best on ground a whopping 15 times last year and has, in host Craig Hutchison's words, 'fallen right down'.
AFL legend Nick Riewoldt said he was 'nowhere near the level he was (last year)'.
'And I think that's symptomatic of the entire team,' Riewoldt said.
'So I put Sam Walsh in that category as well, as an A-grade midfielder who's not playing A-grade football at the moment.'
Cripps had a strong game in the loss to Sydney and started hot with seven disposals and two goals in the first quarter.
He finished the game with 26 touches but his influence was curbed, as Sydney's superstars Isaac Heeney and Chard Warner turned the game the Swans' way.
Walsh was less influential with 19 touches and a goal.
Carlton's midfield guns, who typically rack up huge numbers, are both, currently, outside the top 30 for overall disposals this season.
Also, in the game against Sydney, Cripps had 311 metres gained (ranked as average) and Walsh had 186m.
Compare that to Warner, who had 630m gained (from 30 touches), or even Sydney's Angus Sheldrick who played his first full game for the season on Friday.
Sheldrick, from a similar number of possessions as Walsh, had 473m gained.
'It's a bit of their game style as well,' Riewoldt said.
'Like defensively, they're super strong. They're holding teams to limited scores, but they just cannot move it. They can't move the footy.
'And when you've got the big weapons in front of the ball that they've got (in Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay), I mean, you're almost wasting them to a certain extent.'
Riewoldt said some of the stats were alarming, including one that was not often discussed.
'Handball metres gained,' Riewoldt said.
'It's not a stat that we speak about often, but that is the modern game. That's how the best sides are winning. They're getting it back through the corridor, and from there they are off. It's run and gun. It's overlap with hands.
'And Carlton, to me, they're playing a style of footy with the ball that was (in vogue) five years ago.'
Hutchison asked Riewoldt if he thought it was to do with coaching.
'Well yeah, I think it's system and game style,' Riewoldt said.
'So whether it's coaching or whether it's the ability for the players to actually deliver the message on field (I'm not sure).
'(But) the frustration that Michael Voss speaks with often about their inability to execute game plan says to me that a lot of it falls on the players.'