| Patrick Cripps | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Cripps playing for Carlton in 2018 | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Patrick Cripps | ||
| Nickname(s) | Crippa | ||
| Date of birth | (1995-03-18)18 March 1995 (age 30) | ||
| Place of birth | Perth,Western Australia | ||
| Original team(s) | East Fremantle (WAFL) | ||
| Draft | No. 13,2013 national draft | ||
| Debut | Round 4, 2014,Carlton vs.Melbourne, at theMelbourne Cricket Ground | ||
| Height | 195 cm (6 ft 5 in) | ||
| Weight | 93 kg (205 lb) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Carlton | ||
| Number | 9 | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 2014– | Carlton | 211 (114) | |
| Representative team honours | |||
| Years | Team | Games (Goals) | |
| 2020 | All Stars | 1 (0) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of round 4, 2025. 2 Representative statistics correct as of 2020. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
| |||
| Sources:AFL Tables,AustralianFootball.com | |||
Patrick Cripps (born 18 March 1995) is a professionalAustralian rules footballer playing for theCarlton Football Club in theAustralian Football League (AFL). Cripps won theLeigh Matthews Trophy in 2019, and is a dualBrownlow Medallist, four-timeAll-Australian and five-timeJohn Nicholls Medallist; he was the second-youngest player to win the latter when he first won the award in 2015 and has won the equal-most at the club, along with Nicholls. Cripps served asCarlton co-captain from 2019 to 2021, and he has served as the sole captain since the 2022 season.
Cripps was born inPerth, but at a young age he moved to the small farming town ofNorthampton in Western Australia'sMid West.[1] Cripps played junior football for local club Northampton Rams before moving toAquinas College inPerth and playing juniors and colts for theEast Fremantle Football Club in theWest Australian Football League. He representedWestern Australia at the2013 AFL Under-18 Championships, serving as vice-captain and winning a place in the All-Australian Team for the tournament.[2]
Cripps was recruited by theCarlton Football Club with its first-round selection in the2013 AFL National Draft (No. 13 overall). Even as a junior, his playing style as a strong-bodied midfielder with a strong ability to win clearances by handpass drew comparisons with club Hall of Famer andAFL Team of the Century playerGreg Williams.[3][4] Cripps made his senior debut againstMelbourne inRound 4, 2014,[5] but he played only three matches during the season due to injuries. Cripps changed from his debut jumper number of 16 at the end of the2014 season to number 9 after it was vacated after the delisting ofKane Lucas.
In just hissecond season, Cripps, standing at 195 cm (6 ft 5 in), established himself as a top inside midfielder, finishing 8th in the league for contested possessions and 11th for clearances, and earning strong acclaim for his attacking use of handball.[6] He finished second in the2015 AFL Rising Star award after holding favouritism with bookmakers for much of the year, and he won theJohn Nicholls Medal as Carlton's best and fairest to become the second-youngest winner in the award's history.[7]
In2016, Cripps further solidified his place as one of the best inside midfielders in the AFL, amassing 185 clearances at an average of 8.8 per game, ranked #1 in the AFL, as well as 354 contested possessions at an average of 16.9, ranked #2 in the AFL for the season.[8] After a slow start to the2017 season whilst recovering from a back injury, Cripps found form to average 24.9 disposals and 6.7 clearances from 15 games before his season was cut short with a broken leg.
Before the beginning of the2018 season, he was announced as joint vice-captain of Carlton, along with defenderSam Docherty.[9]Cripps had a magnificent 2018, winning his second Carlton best and fairest, All-Australian honours, and finishing second in voting for theLeigh Matthews Trophy. Averaging over 29 touches a game, Cripps managed to become the leading contested possession winner and breaking the league record for a single-season haul, eclipsingPatrick Dangerfield's previous benchmark of 386 with 388. He later re-signed with the club until the end of the2021 season.[10]
In October 2018, Cripps and Sam Docherty were namedCarlton co-captains.[11]
In 2019, Cripps would deliver his finest season yet. In the pre-season2019 AFLX Grand Final, Cripps, playing for the composite team known as 'Rampage', humorously performed aplace kick, a kick that had become entirely obsolete for Australian rules football in the 1950s.[12][13][14] In the2019 season proper, Cripps averaged a staggering 8.5 clearances, 17 contested possessions and 6.2 tackles a game.
After Round 11 2019, Carlton coachBrendon Bolton was sacked due to poor performance.[15] Preceding Carlton's next game against Brisbane, Cripps revealed he almost didn't play due to being "mentally fried".[16] Cripps ended up playing that game kicking 4 goals and being named best on ground in the Blues' 15 point victory.
His fantastic season would be enough to secure him the Leigh Matthews Trophy.[17]
It has been speculated that Patrick Cripps was suffering a chronic back issue during the seasons of2020 and 2021, which saw considerable drops in his performance. However, this was never confirmed by the club or Patrick himself.[18] In 2021, Cripps re-signed with Carlton until 2027 making him effectively a Blue for life.[19] With a drop of form across both COVID impacted seasons, Cripps faced criticism by multiple former AFL players with him being accused of being a "journeyman" and playing for million dollar contract[20]
The year2022 started with Patrick polling 25 of a possible maximum 30 votes in theAFLCA MVP over the first three rounds, before injuring a hamstring against theGold Coast Suns in round four. Cripps won the2022 Brownlow Medal by a single vote, becoming the first Carlton player to win it sinceChris Judd in2010.[21]
In round 3 of the 2023 season, Cripps recorded a career-best 42 disposals in Carlton's ten-point win overGreater Western Sydney.[22]
In 2024 Cripps had another standout year, averaging 8 clearances and 28.8 disposals a game. He came second in theAFL Coaches Association's Champion Player award, theAFL Players' Association MVP award and theAFLPA Best Captain award. He was also the vice captain for the2024 all-Australian team. Going into the2024 Brownlow night Cripps was one of the favourites to win. He ended up tallying 45 votes, the most any player has ever received in the three votes system, securing his second Brownlow. Cripps also won his fifthJohn Nicholls Medal in 2024, equalling the record held by the award's namesake,John Nicholls.
Updated to the end of round 4, 2025.[23]
G | Goals | K | Kicks | D | Disposals | T | Tackles |
B | Behinds | H | Handballs | M | Marks | ||
± | Won that season's Brownlow Medal |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Averages (per game) | Votes | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | |||||
| 2014 | Carlton | 16 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 17 | 27 | 5 | 9 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 3.3 | 5.7 | 9.0 | 1.7 | 3.0 | 0 |
| 2015 | Carlton | 9 | 20 | 6 | 13 | 158 | 313 | 471 | 64 | 98 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 7.9 | 15.7 | 23.6 | 3.2 | 4.9 | 6 |
| 2016 | Carlton | 9 | 21 | 10 | 14 | 176 | 390 | 566 | 68 | 139 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 8.4 | 18.5 | 27.0 | 3.2 | 6.6 | 18 |
| 2017 | Carlton | 9 | 15 | 7 | 4 | 168 | 206 | 374 | 65 | 90 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 11.2 | 13.7 | 24.9 | 4.3 | 6.0 | 5 |
| 2018 | Carlton | 9 | 22 | 11 | 15 | 259 | 393 | 652 | 92 | 138 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 11.8 | 17.9 | 29.6 | 4.2 | 6.3 | 20 |
| 2019 | Carlton | 9 | 20 | 13 | 6 | 212 | 348 | 560 | 62 | 123 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 10.6 | 17.4 | 28.0 | 3.1 | 6.2 | 26 |
| 2020[a] | Carlton | 9 | 17 | 7 | 11 | 153 | 181 | 334 | 40 | 81 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 9.0 | 10.6 | 21.6 | 2.4 | 4.8 | 10 |
| 2021 | Carlton | 9 | 20 | 13 | 11 | 163 | 305 | 468 | 63 | 85 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 8.2 | 15.3 | 23.4 | 3.2 | 4.3 | 5 |
| 2022 | Carlton | 9 | 21 | 20 | 9 | 226 | 365 | 591 | 76 | 105 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 10.8 | 17.4 | 28.1 | 3.6 | 5.0 | 29± |
| 2023 | Carlton | 9 | 24 | 9 | 14 | 226 | 370 | 596 | 51 | 130 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 9.4 | 15.4 | 24.8 | 2.1 | 5.4 | 22 |
| 2024 | Carlton | 9 | 24 | 17 | 6 | 266 | 426 | 692 | 63 | 129 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 11.1 | 17.8 | 28.8 | 2.6 | 5.4 | 45± |
| 2025 | Carlton | 9 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 36 | 62 | 98 | 7 | 18 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 9.0 | 15.5 | 24.5 | 1.8 | 4.5 | |
| Career | 211 | 114 | 106 | 2052 | 3377 | 5429 | 657 | 1144 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 9.7 | 16.0 | 25.7 | 3.1 | 5.4 | 186 | ||
Notes
Patrick Cripps is related to former West Coast Eagles footballerChris Mainwaring through his father. Cripps' father is Mainwaring's first cousin, and the two are also related to current West Coast Eagles playerJamie Cripps.[24]
On 31 December 2022, Cripps married his partner Monique Fontana.[25] They had a baby daughter together in 2024.[26]
