Kikau drew extra defenders wide so Crichton got most of Mansour's easy untouched/barely touched winger tries last year during overlaps. Dunno precisely how people were expecting him to have a dramatic impact on games. He's not physical palming guys off in attack type of player. Last year he did some freakish stuff in the air, good kicks, nice hands, a handful of impressive things like powering away from RTS and shoving him to the ground but the only centre he beat one on one for the entire year was Brenko Lee in the gf. He's got potential but I don't see how or why people got their hopes up that he'd suddenly transform into a different mould of player and change the way he plays in just one season. Regardless of the money he's on it was never going to happen like that.
Maybe everyone just puts too much attention on stats like tries and try assists instead of really thinking who caused the overlaps instead of the easier plant the ball down stuff/draw and pass stuff. Maybe this criticism will go away when he scores scores some easy walkover/barely touched tries again and everyone on social media will be hyping him up again about how awesome he looks.
But what I feel like about Crichton is he has good instincts for the game. When Melbourne had the momentum and had us on the ropes he swiped at the ball while making a tackle and knocked out of Munster's hand. There have been times when he intercepted the ball in critical moments. He has a good read of the game in defence, and seems to have an naturally smart footy brain or and instinctive understanding of momunmentum and when we need it turned. A pretty damn good defender for a 19 year old rookie. We invested a bit on potential but I'm pretty confident he'll get there, in general if you're defence is sweet everything else will come (think of Cleary).
Long term I'd like to see him try to think about how to beat someone a centre one on one/ draw the winger and develop a signature move he can fall back on to be a real strike player. Zac Lomax has his goose step thden flick. Bradman Best does a subtle in and away. Maybe Crichton could do a palm off/ flick pass with his long arms?
