Cripps has not had the influence he wanted this season. While averaging 25 disposals per game,he had battled a back injury and is not the contested ball king he was through 2018 and ’19. He booted three goals against the Swans in round 11 but has not been able to become a regular goal-kicker,although he feels over “the last five or six weeks I have started to get back to my best”.
Blues management said through the summer a return to the finals for the first time since 2013 was expected,but those ambitions are overafter a stinging defeat to Greater Western Sydney on Saturday night. That the Blues trailed by five goals at half-time yet were crunched 46-20 to that point in the tackle count even prompted Hawthorn premiership star Jordan Lewis to question whether Teague was capable of motivating his players.
Cripps admitted the Blues were defensively “leaking too much as a side” and it was up to a “collective defence” to change this.
“One thing I would say about this group is that we give effort every week,” Cripps said.
“It is disappointing the tackle count was like that but,at the same time,we were winning the ground ball stat as well. It wasn’t lack of effort,we were still winning the ball.
“But pressure is definitely something we have to keep addressing as a group. The pressure factor,the tackles,that’s something we will keep working[on].”
The Blues lost the tackle count by 38 on Saturday,and rank last in the league for tackle differential this season.
Cripps backed Teague to lead the Blues’ recovery,beginning against Adelaide at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.
“When you are in places like this,it is easy to point to one person but ... we all take responsibility of where we are at the moment. It’s not just on Teaguey,it’s everyone. I want everyone to get some feedback from this review,” he said.
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Teague,unlike rival coaches Damien Hardwick and Nathan Buckley who also negotiated extensive reviews,does not have a finals record to fall back on but it should not be forgotten Teague only replaced Brendon Bolton midway through 2019 and his two full seasons in charge have been impacted by the mental stress and uncertainty of life in a hub and fixture uncertainty.
Regardless,the Blues’ inability to defend as a team has him under the spotlight. The Blues have not beaten a top-eight side this season and have conceded at least 100 points seven times. Their last win,against Hawthorn in round 10,only came after Teague gave the playersthe greatest half-time “bake” of his short coaching career.
David King,Teague’s former North Melbourne teammate and now commentator,said on SEN on Monday that defensively “he had never seen a team stick so rigid to a failing plan”.
“This isn’t working,this one-on-one mentality,this refusal for midfielders to defensively compete once the ball leaves clearances ... nothing has changed,so if nothing changes on field,something changes off field,” he said.