Carlton coach Brendan Bolton admits his side could have done more to assist their inspirational captain Patrick Cripps, as the celebrated ball winner endured one of the least productive AFL games of his career on Sunday.
Cripps was held to just 12 touches in the Blues' humiliating 93-point away loss to GWS at Giants Stadium.
It was the first time in his last 16 games the 24-year-old midfield bull had been kept below 25 possessions.
It was the lowest double digit possession tally in any full senior game Cripps has played.
On the three occasions he logged single digit disposal numbers he was injured in the second quarter of one game and was involved in substitutions in the other two.
With Cripps well held by Giants' tagger Matt De Boer, the rest of Carlton's midfield failed to lift.
First-year player Sam Walsh logged 18 possessions, but the Blues were swamped by a GWS side in which 12 players gathered at least 21 touches.
The Giants racked up 188 more disposals, 80 extra marks and finished ahead in the clearances by 19 and 30 in contested possessions.
"He carries a big load in there, Cripper," Bolton said.
"We moved him around there a little bit, up forward and into some different positioning around stoppages, some of the technical stuff.
"But yeah, I think we can help Cripper out a little bit more than what we did today."
A clearly frustrated Cripps also gave away a couple of free-kicks but Bolton felt the leadership group would address that rather than him having to lecture the player.
"With any of those sort of things in the leadership meetings they address them quite heavily,'' Bolton said.
'They'll challenge each other, he'll understand it though, he's a warrior,"
Bolton hoped to have veteran Kade Simpson and David Cunningham back for next Sunday's clash with St Kilda at Marvel Stadium.
He will wait for scan results on a rib injury suffered on Sunday by Marc Murphy.
