Patrick Cripps (born 18 March 1995) is a professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er playing for the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Princes Park (stadium), Princes Park in Carlton North, Victoria, Carlton North, an inner suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The c ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). Cripps won the

Leigh Matthews Trophy The Leigh Matthews Trophy is an annual award given by the AFL Players Association to the Most Valuable Player in the Australian Football League. It is named in honour of Leigh Matthews, who won the first MVP award in 1982, when the league was s ...

in 2019, and is a dual

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...

list, four-time

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

and five-time John 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 as Carlton co-captain from 2019 to 2021, and he has served as the sole captain since the 2022 season.

Early life

Cripps was born in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, but at a young age he moved to the small farming town of

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

in Western Australia's Mid West. Cripps played junior football for local club Northampton Rams before moving to Aquinas College in Perth and playing juniors and colts for the

East Fremantle Football Club The East Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Sharks and colloquially referred to as East Freo, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The team's home ground is Eas ...

in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

. He represented

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

at the 2013 AFL Under-18 Championships, serving as vice-captain and winning a place in the All-Australian Team for the tournament.

AFL career

2014–2017: Early career and rise in form

Cripps was recruited by the

with its first-round selection in the 2013 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 and

AFL Team of the Century The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

player Greg Williams. Cripps made his senior debut against

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in Round 4, 2014, 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 the 2014 season to number 9 after it was vacated after the delisting of Kane Lucas. In just his second season, Cripps, standing at , 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. He finished second in the 2015 AFL Rising Star award after holding favouritism with bookmakers for much of the year, and he won the John Nicholls Medal as Carlton's best and fairest to become the second-youngest winner in the award's history. In

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, 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. After a slow start to the 2017 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.

2018–2019: Co-captaincy and AFLPA MVP

Before the beginning of the 2018 season, he was announced as joint vice-captain of Carlton, along with defender Sam Docherty. Cripps had a magnificent 2018, winning his second Carlton best and fairest, All-Australian honours, and finishing second in voting for the

. 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, eclipsing Patrick Dangerfield's previous benchmark of 386 with 388. He later re-signed with the club until the end of the 2021 season. In October 2018, Cripps and Sam Docherty were named Carlton co-captains. In 2019, Cripps would deliver his finest season yet. In the pre-season 2019 AFLX Grand Final, Cripps, playing for the composite team known as 'Rampage', humorously performed a

place kick The place kick is a type of kicking play commonly used in American football, association football, association football (soccer), Canadian football, rugby league, and rugby union. It was historically used in Australian rules football, but it was ...

, a kick that had become entirely obsolete for Australian rules football in the 1950s. In the 2019 season proper, Cripps averaged a staggering 8.5 clearances, 17 contested possessions and 6.2 tackles a game. After Round 11 2019, Carlton coach Brendon Bolton was sacked due to poor performance. Preceding Carlton's next game against Brisbane, Cripps revealed he almost didn't play due to being "mentally fried". 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.

2020–2021: COVID years and form slump

It has been speculated that Patrick Cripps was suffering a chronic back issue during the seasons of

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and 2021, which saw considerable drops in his performance. However, this was never confirmed by the club or Patrick himself. In 2021, Cripps re-signed with Carlton until 2027 making him effectively a Blue for life. 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

2022–2023: Sole captaincy and Brownlow win

The year

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

started with Patrick polling 25 of a possible maximum 30 votes in the AFLCA MVP over the first three rounds, before injuring a hamstring against the

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast in the ...

in round four. Cripps won the 2022 Brownlow Medal by a single vote, becoming the first Carlton player to win it since Chris Judd in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. In round 3 of the 2023 season, Cripps recorded a career-best 42 disposals in Carlton's ten-point win over .

2024–present: Record-breaking Brownlow win

In 2024 Cripps had another standout year, averaging 8 clearances and 28.8 disposals a game. He came second in the AFL Coaches Association's Champion Player award, the AFL Players' Association MVP award and the AFLPA Best Captain award. He was also the vice captain for the 2024 all-Australian team. Going into the 2024 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 fifth John Nicholls Medal in 2024, equalling the record held by the award's namesake, John Nicholls.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of round 14, 2025''. , - ,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

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2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, , , , 9 , 20 , , 6 , , 13 , , 158 , , 313 , , 471 , , 64 , , 98 , , 0.3 , , 0.7 , , 7.9 , , 15.7 , , 23.6 , , 3.2 , , 4.9 , , 6 , - ,

, , , , 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 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, , , , 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 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

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2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, , , , 9 , 20 , , 13 , , 6 , , 212 , , 348 , , 560 , , 62 , , 123 , , 0.7 , , 0.3 , , 10.6 , , 17.4 , , 28.0 , , 3.1 , , 6.2 , , 26 , - ,

, , , , 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 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, , , , 9 , 20 , , 13 , , 11 , , 163 , , 305 , , 468 , , 63 , , 85 , , 0.7 , , 0.6 , , 8.2 , , 15.3 , , 23.4 , , 3.2 , , 4.3 , , 5 , - ,

, , , , 9 , 21 , , 20 , , 9 , , 226 , , 365 , , 591 , , 76 , , 105 , , 1.0 , , 0.4 , , 10.8 , , 17.4 , , 28.1 , , 3.6 , , 5.0 , , bgcolor=98FB98 , 29^± , - ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

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2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, , , , 9 , 24 , , 17 , , 6 , , 266 , , 426 , , 692 , , 63 , , 129 , , 0.7 , , 0.3 , , 11.1 , , 17.8 , , 28.8 , , 2.6 , , 5.4 , , bgcolor=98FB98 , 45^± , - ,

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

, , , , 9 , 13 , , 10 , , 12 , , 122 , , 182 , , 304 , , 29 , , 75 , , 0.8 , , 0.9 , , 9.4 , , 14.0 , , 23.4 , , 2.2 , , 5.8 , , , - class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 , Career ! 220 !! 123 !! 116 !! 2138 !! 3497 !! 5635 !! 678 !! 1202 !! 0.6 !! 0.5 !! 9.7 !! 15.9 !! 25.6 !! 3.1 !! 5.5 !! 186 Notes

Honours and achievements

* Carlton co-captain: 2019–2021;

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

: 2022–present * 2×

: 2019 * 4×

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

* 5× John Nicholls Medal: 2015, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2024 * All-Stars representative honours in State of Origin for Bushfire Relief Match * AFL Rising Star nominee:

Personal life

Patrick Cripps is related to former West Coast Eagles footballer Chris Mainwaring through his father. Cripps' father is Mainwaring's first cousin, and the two are also related to current West Coast Eagles player Jamie Cripps. On 31 December 2022, Cripps married his partner Monique Fontana. They had a baby daughter together in 2024.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cripps, Patrick Carlton Football Club players Northern Bullants players 1995 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Western Australia John Nicholls Medal winners People from Northampton, Western Australia Leigh Matthews Trophy winners All-Australians (AFL) People educated at Aquinas College, Perth 21st-century Australian sportsmen