The second of those junk time goals in another Carlton loss was near the final siren. Cripps gave himself a big fist pump. For me that symbolised both a wider malaise on the Blues' list and where Cripps is at. Maybe that prompted the Lethal bake.
I really like Cripps but the game and his body have gone past him being an A grader and potential champion of the Competition. He is a liability in transition because he runs in treacle boots.
He is still a valuable player at Carlton but I suspect more as a role playing solid B grader. There is nothing wrong with that.
What is questionable is the length of the contract extension (6 years) and the purported dosh he is being paid (circa $750k pa ave). Personally a 3 year contract, with performance based options at around $450-500k pa base would have been reasonable.
The Cripps contract adds pressure to Carlton's cap. They have overpaid prominent name imports who have failed to deliver and the SOS era did not help either. Eventually they could lose a Walsh.
Actually of their imports Nic Newman is a stand out. He was in their best this week, would be on minimum chips and is the sort of C+ role player the Blues need more of.
Their list needs a big clean out a bit like North did. The new Coach and List management crew need to nail the Draft and avoid the quick fixes that has been the Club's hallmark.
I’m not going to read into players celebrating goals. It’s fairly obvious at most clubs that the players are told to celebrate their goals hard to try and manufacture momentum.
Watch Richmond play you’d think every goal they kick was a match winner.