Patrick Cripps has become the second youngest player in Blues history to be named Carlton’s best and fairest. He is second only behind the medal’s namesake John Nicholls, who was also aged 20 when he won the first of his five best and fairest awards in 1959.
Cripps polled 68 votes to win the award ahead of captain Marc Murphy (67) and defender Zach Tuohy (64).
The 20-year-old midfielder joins elite company in taking home ‘Big Nic’ – a fact that wasn’t lost on him.
“It’s something I’m very proud of,” Cripps said. “You look at some of the names, even in the last five or six years, Juddy, Simmo, Murphy and Gibba won it, now I have one as well.
“It’s pretty surreal to be honest but I’m absolutely rapt to win it.”
The football journey for Cripps has so far been a whirlwind. Recruited to Carlton with a first round draft pick in 2013, he spent a large part of his debut season sidelined with a broken leg.
Now some 23 AFL games later, he’s a Rising Star runner-up and John Nicholls Medallist.
Carlton Shop: Grab your Patrick Cripps merchandise
“It seems like yesterday I got drafted to the club and had a disappointing 2014 due to injury, so I set myself a few goals coming into this year,” he said.
“I just wanted to cement my spot in the side and I was lucky enough to get a bit more time.
“I’ve been happy with my year, but I’ve still got a lot of things I want to improve on, and hopefully the team can improve and we can go upwards in the near future.”
VIDEO: Patrick Cripps' acceptance speech
In addition to the best and fairest accolade, Cripps also took out the Inner Blue Ruthless Award, the Blues Coterie Most Improved Award, and the Hyundai MVP as voted by the fans.
It comes just a matter of weeks after Chris Judd returned to Ikon Park to present Cripps with an award named in his honour: the Chris Judd Development Academy Award.
