Patrick Cripps is leading the charge for Western Australia in this rarity, a genuine top-level state game of Australian rules football. Normally at this time of year he would be tapering his preparation for another campaign, his thirteenth at senior level, but he will lift for this occasion even though it is technically part of his preseason for the real club stuff. He has struggled in recent years with shoulder problems, evidenced by the amount of strapping that is applied. The less padding he carries, the better he moves between contests, and the more hard footy he can win.
Patrick Cripps is leading the charge for Western Australia in this rarity, a genuine top-level state game of Australian rules football. Normally at this time of year he would be tapering his preparation for another campaign, his thirteenth at senior level, but he will lift for this occasion even though it is technically part of his preseason for the real club stuff. He has struggled in recent years with shoulder problems, evidenced by the amount of strapping that is applied. The less padding he carries, the better he moves between contests, and the more hard footy he can win.
Patrick Cripps is not the reason the Blues are on a 1-4 run after starting the season 11-4. He has one job in this team - first hands on the footy at stoppages - and he is still as good at that as anyone in the caper, including last week in a heartbreaking loss to the old enemy Collingwood. He can only do so much himself. When the game is not decided on scoring chains started from stoppages but on turnovers and fast breaks, he has to watch the game flow around him with faster units going past him. Today might be another of those days.
Patrick Cripps carries the Carlton Football Club on his shoulders these days, and the power he has within the club has been demonstrated in public with his preferred ruckman brought back into the 22 in Marc Pittonet. While Pittonet himself is not a top-tier ruck for fantasy, his presence maximises the hit outs to advantage for the Blues and unlocks Cripps' full potential as the engineer of strings of high-quality clearances, particularly from the centre. Along with the still-improving Tom De Koning, this is a blossoming and productive relationship.
Patrick Cripps came out of the blocks in 2022 at a searing sprint pace, and despite a one-week layoff for a hamstring problem he returned as if the injury had never happened in the first place - making one wonder if there really was an muscle tear at all. Regardless, he does have a history of injury and also can tend to go missing in games if he's not feeling it, as his previous owners know all to well. It's hard to ignore him at the moment in the form he is in with the confidence he is showing, nevertheless, and he is still underpriced in salary cap competitions.
Patrick Cripps is one of the most hyped superstars of the AFL in 2022, and over the first couple of rounds he has lived up to it. Hobbled in recent years by a string of injuries, he doesn't have an easy gait or a flowing running style, but he has managed to waddle from contest to contest this year to bring his considerable strength and skill to lead the Blues to impressive victories. As a fantasy commodity he has burned a lot of coaches over the years but plenty are on his back like the rest of the Carlton team are, riding his star quality as long as he can hold up.
Patrick Cripps is not playing in this game, this is just a placeholder.
Patrick Cripps has been carrying a back injury through the 2021 season, putting some truth to the old joke that he looks like he is carrying the team at times. That's not really true any more as Sam Walsh is now the best player on the team, with a far higher floor of production and a more complete game. Cripps trudges from contest to contest, still strong as an ox inside the packs but with the turning circle of an elephant and the stamina of a newborn calf. As a fantasy asset, if you held onto him then you probably have to ride him through to the byes, at least.
Patrick Cripps has been in the media spotlight lately not for what he has been doing, but for what opponents are doing to him. Not only are they double teaming him, they engage him in holds well before the ball is in play, resulting in the occasional free kick but nowhere near enough to combat the extreme amount of attention paid to him. Today's opponent in Hawthorn does not have a dedicated tagger with Daniel Howe injured, but expect Liam Shiels to pay him close attention... whether the umpires choose this week to start paying free after free is the question.
Cripps bosses turf war
Clearance king Patrick Cripps dominated in every facet, celebrating as club champion, All-Australian and equal-third Brownlow poller. Only twice did he collect less than 20 touches, both under heavy tags, and he looked listless when given harsh physical treatment in other games. When allowed to run free, Cripps went about his havoc-wreaking business, collecting 28 touches and six tackles per game on his way to ten fantasy tons. Cripps should bounce back from a scoring dip as the midfield around him becomes stronger. The next step is not necessarily in his own game but his teammates helping him out to beat tags, much in the way Brisbane rallied around Lachie Neale last year. As an inside bull who wins his own footy and can compete in the air when resting forward, quiet games should be few and far between. Take the Carlton co-captain in the first or second round without hesitation.
You little Crippa
Leg breaks can mean up to 12 months on the sideline, but Patrick Cripps reported for duty in round 1 last year after his break came in round 16 of 2017. He delivered much the same sort of numbers as the previous two seasons before the bye with a fantasy average hovering around a flat ton, but lifted his ratings by 18 points in the second half. He led the league in contested possessions, and was top three for clearances and centre clearances in a team which was bottom three for the former. Year five is the time where midfielders generally reach their strongest gear, and if this is the finished product then Cripps is a strong candidate for a first round pick, maybe even #1 overall. The shape of his stat line is pretty much the same regardless of opponent or tag, it's just a matter of volume. The Blues aren't going to be a finals threat in 2019 so the tags won't descend all that heavily. Emulating Tom Mitchell's Brownlow and top fantasy average is within his upside.
Them's the breaks, Patrick
It took Patrick Cripps a month to wind up last year, then he peeled off eight fantasy tons from ten, before a leg break ended his season early. It came out later that he had been playing with breaks to jaw and ribs too, not that it showed. His ratio of kicks to handballs shifted from 8:19 to 11:14, increasing his metres gained average by over 50 but still gaining less than half that of the league benchmark. The club has assured fans that Cripps' 2018 preseason will be unaffected by those injuries. More responsibility will fall on his shoulders with the departure of Bryce Gibbs as well as Marc Murphy going past the age of 30, and he's more than strong enough to carry the load even when banged up. He will disappear from your draft in early rounds, though the first might be too optimistic.
