More from Patrick Cripps on Channel Seven.
You are the first Brownlow Medalist since Carlton’s Juddy. When you first moved to Melbourne, you really struggled with fame and celebrity. what did you do with it
I come from a town of 800 people, I went to boarding school in Perth. When I first got to Carlton I was a bit thick around the gills. I was a little overweight. Many people said that I entered the club. They were right. He wasn’t the most athletic guy around. But it’s a strange feeling to be up here. It’s something that I’ve always dreamed of playing in the AFL, and I’ve always dreamed of playing in the AFL, and I’ve always dreamed of, you know, playing in a team that’s very successful, and we haven’t gotten there yet , but while these individual awards are great recognition for a lot of hard work, it’s a lot of the team stuff that really drives you. We’re not there yet, but as a player, you know, we’ve been down for a lot of years and we feel like we’re really building now, and you know, I’m very grateful for Carlton. to give me the opportunity, and even though we’re not there yet, I feel like we’re gaining a lot of momentum, and that gives me a lot of satisfaction, and it gives me a lot of drive and motivation going forward.
Patrick Cripps. Credits: AFL Photos
2019 was a tough year and you carried the weight of the club. There was a round and a game against Brisbane where you almost retired, was it too much for you?
Yes, it was. It was a hard time. At that point, we had won three of 44 games. So it was very hard. And now I look at teams that are going through a really tough time and I have a lot of sympathy for them and I can relate. And it’s hard, but like I said before, I’m very optimistic and hopeful and find a way to move forward, and I feel like we’ve done that and it’s been hard. I had a lot, before that game, I had a stink, we were left out, and I think that was the week that Bolts was sacked and he had a big influence on the club at the time. I went out and came very close to missing the game that week. I really didn’t want to play. I was very fried mentally. And I remember talking to my coach, talking to my family and saying, “I don’t think I’m going to play this week.” They said “Just give it until game day.” The day of the game I woke up and said “I’m going to play this game.” When I went to the game, I said, “I’m the leader of this club. I’m going to put my … my best foot forward, I’m going to have a lot of fun, I’m going to play football.” That made me realize the “what’s important is the mental side of the game and, you know, no matter what you’re going through, you can still perform at a high level, and we were lucky to win that game. . It was our fourth win in as many games and , since then, I feel that little by little we have been gaining momentum.
There was a time when you also refused to do media. You told the club, “They can’t put me in front of the cameras.” You went to a speech therapist.
I couldn’t string together two words of help in front of the media. This is not a lie. Late 2015, early 2016, I was so nervous, it was probably lucky we didn’t play well during that time. If I had played well and we had won, I would have had to talk to the people on the ground, and if we ever did, I would try to avoid them. I was so nervous because I stuttered a bit in front of the media. When I see young guys now who are very nervous in front of the media, I have a lot of empathy for them and I remember I was at the club one day and Marc Murphy was doing a press conference and he spoke very well. In my head I said to myself, “I wish I could speak like that in front of people.” At the time, I couldn’t have done it. I had great people in my network not only the media director but the club psychologist and Michael Jameson who was a huge influence in my early days, we did some mock interviews over six months there and I refused to do some media for six months and we practiced interviews for six months and got to the point where I felt comfortable and now I really enjoy it. But yes, it was not easy to go there for a while. And now I’m happy to chat in front of everyone.
You’ve been lured home so many times, but the reason you didn’t was because you felt, and maybe because of the farming background, that you didn’t finish the job you started at Carlton. The last time Carlton was at his peak, you were a few months old.
Yes. It was 1995. Yes, it’s tough. I am always grateful that the club gives me the opportunity. Like I said before, I wasn’t the fittest guy out there, and they took a chance on me and in my draft year, I probably, you know, wouldn’t have been drafted earlier in the year. So I’ve always felt like a loyal person. My parents always instilled that in me, and it’s been a really tough few years and I guess it’s taken a lot of optimism and hope and really good people in my corner to keep moving forward, and I feel like we’re winning a lot now. some traction as a club, and I’m very optimistic going forward. I’ve always said as a player, we’ve built this place from the ground up, and even though this year hasn’t gone well, that hurt at the end of the year, but I think we’ve picked up some momentum. to next year. I’m excited about what we’re going to produce as a club, and we’ve got some really good people at the club and I’m really excited.
Round 21, we thought you had quit. You called Dennis Dinuto, went down and produced arguably one of the greatest plays in football history in round 23. Did you think you produced a 3-vote game?
Oh, to be honest at the end of the game I was so sleepy, I’d rather get zero touches and win than play like I did and lose. But yeah, it was a weird time. The only thing I do notice is the crowd in the last game, and the Carlton/Collingwood fans are very passionate. They probably clash a bit, but the last round as a player was very special to play. There were 90,000, two big fans. There was momentum going both ways. I remember when I was a kid I just wanted to play AFL football and play in front of big crowds. I remember walking out that day and saying, ‘That’s what footy is about, two big fan bases.’ There were a lot of momentum swings in that game. You talk about gratitude, it’s very special to be able to play in these games.