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Important update on 1476AM“Mistake”: King and Cornes question Carlton’s Cripps tactics
Andrew Slevison • April 10th, 2026 10:21 am
Carlton started captain Patrick Cripps on the bench for the second quarter of Thursday night’s eventual 28-point Gather Round loss to Adelaide.
The Blues had played well in the first quarter, kicking seven goals to the Crows’ six after winning clearance 17-9 with their skipper instrumental.
Cripps had 12 disposals from seven contested possessions, plus six clearances (four from the centre), six score involvements, four tackles and a goal assist having attended 12 centre bounces.
Then he started the second term on the pine as the Crows ran riot with five straight goals in a quarter where they booted six goals to just one, blowing the game open.
Cripps had only three touches and no clearances from five centre bounce attendances in 20 minutes of second-quarter action.
So, why did Michael Voss have him on the bench?
Kane Cornes and David King couldn’t quite work out Carlton's tactics and strategy.
“For Blues fans, same old story. You do get excited about what they can deliver in the first quarter and then in the second quarter it was uncompetitive,” Cornes said on SEN’s Fireball.
“There was a 15-minute patch where they were uncompetitive, and Cripps for the second week in a row starts on the bench in the second term. When he was on the bench in the second term, they got absolutely destroyed.
“Now you go, well that's the plan, to save his legs so he can run out the game. I get all of that but you've got a lead at quarter-time, you put the captain on the bench in the second term, you have six goals in a row kicked against you and Cripps is getting a rub-down on the bench.
“What’s going on?”
King was equally as miffed.
He wonders why Cripps didn’t start the second term on the ground to make the most of the momentum when the Blues held a narrow lead.
”I never understand this,” said King.
“I’m no sports scientist but if you have a seven-minute break at quarter-time why does the player need to stay on the bench for another seven minutes?
“Isn't the break enough to give your best a reset and go again? Go out and make a couple more statements, see if you can turn a two-goal margin into a four-goal margin for us.
“I never understand this. And I think when you're down on manpower, you need those guys just to be out there at the start of quarters.”
Cornes continued: “So he's played the fourth-least time in the second quarter, he played 20 minutes.
“Only Hudson O'Keeffe, Mitch McGovern and Nick Haynes played less game time than Cripps, the captain, in the second term.
“And people say, ‘Well, you just highlight this because they lose’. No, no, you don't have your captain for the second week in a row start the quarter on the bench. That was a mistake.
“It looked like it was carnage when he was off. That was the momentum and then good luck.
“I think he came back on and they kicked another one certainly from centre bounce, so not ideal.”
Cripps was the equal most prolific player on the ground with 29 disposals (alongside teammate Sam Walsh and Adelaide’s Sam Berry), had the Blues’ most contested possessions with 16, led the game with nine tackles, had seven clearances (second to Marc Pittonet) and 10 score involvements (only Walsh had more with 11).
The defeat has the Blues sitting 16th with a 1-4 record ahead of next Thursday night’s blockbuster clash with Collingwood.
