Carlton Supporters Club

My hobby horse for a while has been that I want Krooz to play as a mid and bring in Lobbe as a ruck. Lobbe is the best ruck we've had on our list for years, so why not use him ? We've been bullied around the stoppages for too long by the big bodied mids like the Swans, Crows etc. I have no idea who's in or out for the Tiges, but having Cripps, Kennedy and Krooz as genuine mids is real muscle around the contest. People say that Krooz can still do that as well as ruck, but IMO it's not quite the same.

The club won't do it, nobody on here likes the idea (I've mentioned it previously), so I doubt it will ever see the light of day. But I'd like to see it trialled for a block of games. The JLT series would have been perfect for such an experiment.

I note that Cripps was drifting forward a lot more in the JLT series, and Krooz could be Crippa MKII in this respect.

I think if they had wanted it they would have trialled it in JLT, but I think as a quartet Lobbe, SpecialK, Cripps and Kennedy are too slow.

If Meat hadn't played so well in JLT I might be persuaded to swap him out, bring in Lobbe to ruck and Kreuzer as a mid/wing as you suggest. But again it would have to be trialled in the pre-season, in the main season if that setup goes wrong you end up in a world of pain with no way out! Even when it seems right, it would only be fit for use in a horses for courses scenario.

During JLT when we broke from the midfield SpecialK is just another runner. Some of those segments of play with SpecialK, Cripps and Kennedy linking with the smaller mids were spectacular.

What teams would SpecialK as a mid work best against, teams with strong and heavier mid-field like an Adelaide or Freo? Could SpecialK go head to head with someone like Nat Fyfe, but even so wouldn't we prefer Cripps or Kennedy to go head to head with Fyfe? What about Charlie Curnow? Kennedy looks like a ready made to take on a Fyfe type!

Plus, I think SpecialK's best work comes in his 2nd and 3rd efforts, he recovers from the ruck contest and rejoins the chain of play faster than anybody else(Except maybe Natanui who is probably SpecialK's equal in this regard) which is why when SpecialK rucks he is so influential without winning lots of taps.

FWIW, Casboult's 2nd efforts were much better in the JLT, I hope he takes that into the main season as well, but he still let play move away rather than rejoin the chain of disposals like SpecialK does. Casboult's emphasis seemed to be ruck then sit back behind play, SpecialKs emphasis was to ruck then push towards the next contest.

As a ruckman, Kreuzer is an excellent at stoppages.
As a midfielder, Kreuzer is average.

No point playing Kreuzer as a pure midfield type as you'd probably get more from a pure midfielder in that role.

The advantage is playing him as a ruckman, then you get the midfield advantage he brings compared to the other ruck, but not at the expense of a pure midfielder.

Not wishing to start a 10 page derailment, much less a train wreck, but I think it's hard to judge Krooz as a pure mid unless he actually plays that role. The inside mids around him set themselves up for this role, pre game and in game, whereas Krooz has to spend a few seconds entangling then extricating himself from the opposing ruckman - in that few seconds, a lot can happen, and as a mid, he's behind the 8 ball to begin with.

At any rate, it's clear that it ain't gonna happen, so it's best to just fuggitabouit.

I'm still gobsmacked that my idea hasn't been tried even once. We've been in the bottom rungs of the ladder for ages. It's not as if we're putting a flag tilt in jeopardy.

How long does it take Kreuzer, and any ruckman, to get the ball to their boot? Its a long way down there.
What about if the ball is on the ground? Thats an even longer way down there.

He's a big body, a slow moving body by comparison.

Those few seconds extracting himself from a ruckman is no difference from extracting yourself from a tagger. In fact, its easier given he is given a clear path to the ball, no blocking of ruckmen allowed, and he'd have the first idea on where the ball would be going from the hitout too.

Actually they sort of tried it years ago, they did at one stage have Hampson rucking and Kreuzer in the center at the same time. They also went through a period were those two would rove to each other inside F50, I saw it as an attempt by Ratten to clear some space for the likes of Betts, Garlett and Murphy.

That's fair enough, but don't forget, he's only a few cms taller and a few kgs heavier than Cripps, so he wouldn't be holding proceedings up too much in comparison.

Now you mention it, Cripps always looks a bit slow to me and it's amazing that despite that he does seem to have the time to execute. Maybe I've internalised a concern about his seeming "lumbering" but I always get a bit of heart in mouth when he has the ball, especially if he decides to run with it.

Ive watched Cripps.

Its like time moves slowly around him.

I don't think he moves slowly.  It just looks like he has plenty of time most of the time.

Ive only witnessed a few players who just seemed to be "motionless" and all of them have been able to manufacture both time and space somehow around themselves and most of them are absolute guns at the sports they play.

Its a universal quality.  Ive noticed it on the greats.  Diesel Williams had that ability.  Maradonna had that ability.  Cripps has that ability.

He's a gem.  I didn't put him in the first group of my tiers, not because he isn't worthy (there were a few that should be walk up starts) but more to do with the fact that the bloke has ten years of footy ahead of him, and is part of a younger group that isnt expected to perform week in and week out for 4 quarters even though he probably will.

Yes, Cripps either disposes of the footy asap, or he uses his strength and size to bullock his way through players. Trying to outrun the opposition won't end well. Ditto the Cruiser.