Brendon Bolton says Carlton will build resilience from hard times and Patrick Cripps wont be rested

BRENDON Bolton has assured frustrated fans these hard times will build a resilience while also fending off suggestions star midfielder Patrick Cripps needs to be rested for his own good.

Patrick Cripps (left) leads the Blues from the field after the Round 17 AFL match between the St Kilda Saints and the Carlton Blues at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Friday, July 13, 2018. (AAP Image/Julian Smith) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE

BRENDON Bolton has quickly fended off suggestions star midfielder Patrick Cripps needed to be rested for his own good, as the Carlton coach assured frustrated fans these hard times will build a resilience within the group.

Cripps was again a tireless worker for the Blues, having a game-high 35 disposals in the Blues’ 64-point loss to St Kilda on Friday night.

Bolton said the club was closely monitoring Cripps’ workload, saying he was confident he wasn’t being overly taxed with his incredible workrate.

“He is a warrior,” Bolton said when asked if Cripps would require a break from one of the Blues’ remaining six games.

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Patrick Cripps of the Blues looks dejected after losing the round 17 AFL match between the St Kilda Saints and the Carlton Blues

“It would be really difficult walking up to Patrick Cripps and saying ‘have a rest’. He is going to shake his head and laugh and say ‘No way, Bolts’.

“We are managing him from game to game very, very well.”

Bolton said the pain of having only one win from the club’s 16 games this season was far from ideal, but he stressed the players would learn from the predicament.

“These times will pay us back, they have to,” he said. “As hard as they are while we’re living them, they’ve got to build resilience.”

“(The players will learn) how to work when you’ve got limited rotations, playing multiple and different positions … they’re the key takeaways.

“They should also take away that we’re not satisfied and we’re not at all happy in terms of the result. We’ll keep chasing a win, they need to know that.”

Saying he would “love to just sprinkle fairy dust over it all” to guarantee a quick turnaround, he said only hard work can change the situation.

“Our fundamental skill errors, we’ve got to continue to work at that and we’ll train them really hard, but they hurt us (against St Kilda),” he said.

“The intent was to use and share the ball, but we probably took it a bit too far and we overdid it. Then, on turnover, it got us.

“We’ll just keep fighting in that space … fundamental skills, the pressure, that’s aspirational.”

Patrick Cripps of the Blues will not be rested

FRIDAT NIGHT SAINTS

ST KILDA is looking expectantly to a second consecutive Friday night fixture - this time against premiership favourites Richmond - with coach Alan Richardson saying the club is determined to claim some more scalps in the remaining six games.

Having won three of their past four games after winning only one in the first half of the season, Richardson said the Saints won’t be gifting games to youngsters as it aims to finish the season off strongly.

“This won’t be a period where we just give games to young blokes,” he said. “If we give a game to a young bloke the reality is, it will be a young bloke going out because we’re pretty young, but you’ll have the play the right way to get in and you’ll have to play the right way to stay in.”

Patrick Cripps (left) leads the Blues from the field after the Round 17

“We want to make sure we drive really strongly for the remaining games, that we treat them as opportunities.”

He was delighted with the performance of a number of his younger players against Carlton on Friday night, most notably forward Rowan Marshall, who provided a target in attack, as well as Jack Lonie, Ed Phillips and Bailey Rice (who was a late inclusion for the sick Seb Ross).

“I thought he (Marshall) was terrific and it wasn’t just the way he was able to win the ball or score, but his contest,” he said.

“I thought it was as good as Rowan has played for us in contest.

Paddy Dow of the Blues (third from left) and David Armitage of the Saints

“A lot of our scoring came from forward 50 stoppages or them pressuring their kick out of the stoppage, and those stoppages often because [Tim] Membrey and Rowan were able to bring the ball to ground, and that’s the role of the big forward.”

He said the players can’t wait to take on the Tigers, saying it was an “incredibly exciting” opportunity to show how much they have been building in recent weeks.

Richardson said Jake Carlisle had shown great courage to get up for Friday night’s game against Carlton.

“He did a really good job,” he said. “He has been a bit sore, obviously (with) a punctured lung on top of the injury he had.”

“He had a big front on hit (on Friday night) when he was still able to maintain the ball.

“That period off the ground, I reckon he got winded. He was able to come off the ground and get checked. He was able to finish the game strongly.”