Carlton Supporters Club

Agree...be good to be able to rest Cripps and not lose anything in the clearances when he isnt there, at the moment as soon as Cripps goes forward or off the ground
we get slaughtered around the ball. Think I read we only had two players in the top 100 for clearances and two in the top one hundred for contested possessions ...Cripps and Ed Curnow in both categories.
Not going to win too many games with those stats......so Setterfield and Kennedy need to play their part and get in the top 100 in both those areas
Melbourne had eight players in the top 100 for contested ball, Collingwood nine, West Coast seven, Richmond seven, ....

Its not rocket science...we dont have enough players putting the head over the ball or playing 100 minutes of contested footy......think we were last in forward entries too.....
No surprise either that Cripps and Ed Curnow lead in these areas of us......they give you 100 minutes of effort each week....Ed can butcher the footy but he always gives you effort...
If we can get 5 players in the top 100 of those key two areas ie Clearances/Contested we win games and become competitive again.....

Any exactly why a Mick Barlow type is so, so necessary.

Barlow didn’t play enough games to make the player rankings but his averages from his three games has him well outside the top 100 for clearances.  His 14 contested possessions against Geelong bumps his average up to around the 50 mark.  Without that effort, he would be outside the top 100.

It’s interesting that Gold Coast virtually refused to play Barlow given his performances in the NEAFL.  They mustn’t have an elite midfielder that needs support 

I doubt whether there will be many rejects with top 100 stats and I would prefer to see us demanding that our youngsters step up.

Interestingly, Gibbs is well inside the top 50 for contested possessions and clearances - areas where I didn’t think he’d be missed.

Like I said, he nicked the pies from the warmer.