HOURS AFTER being announced as Carlton's sole captain for 2022, Patrick Cripps fronted the media following the completion of another lengthy, physical session at IKON Park.
There was plenty on the agenda for the triple John Nicholls Medallist, including his thoughts on his co-vice captains in Sam Walsh and Jacob Weitering, where he's at physically leading into 2022 and what has stood out for him on the training track so far.
Here's the full video of what Cripps had to say, with a selection of quotes on a number of topics below.
On the two new co-vice captains:
These two guys are awesome players and great blokes and they’re going to be great leaders for this football club. It’s awesome to have them as vice captains.
On the difference between sole captaincy and co-captaincy:
No matter what role I’m in at the Club, I’m going to do the exact same thing. I’ve always said that. My goal is I want this place to be the best place possible.
I want people to enjoy being here, I’m going to drive high standards, and at the end of the day you want to build a team that has success. You want to get the best out of the group and the best out of individuals. It all comes back to building relationships and holding people accountable. That’s something that - from a leadership point of view - I’ll look to do.
From a captaincy point of view, to captain an AFL club is a massive honour and a privilege. I always reflect that I grew up in a small country town in Northampton to now be captain of the Carlton Football Club: it’s pretty special and something that I don’t take for granted.
On Sam Docherty, and reintegrating into training:
He was nearly best on today at the start! He was awesome, it was good to see. From where he’s come from in the last couple of months, if you know him personally, he’s one of the best blokes you’ll meet. He’s resilient, he gives a lot of people time, he’s one of my best mates.
Although he doesn’t have the ‘C’ next to his name, he’s going to be a leader of this team. I can’t speak highly enough of him. To see him out there today and the way he played, it was pretty special I thought.
On the key focus in 2022:
One thing we’re going to pride ourselves on this year is the contest. We’ve done a lot of work around that. It’s still evolving, but it’s good that you guys notice that we’re trying to put as much heat on as possible.
We have a real desire to compete. The depth we’ve got on the list now, there’s a lot of competition for spots. Every session matters, and you can really see that. From the midfield mix, you can see guys like George Hewett and Adam Cerra who are big bodies and classy with their ball use. I’ve definitely noticed that.
On the Club’s new recruits:
They’ve earned the respect straight away, coming in. They’re workers, and that’s all you want. You want them to get the best out of themselves and buy in to what we want to stand for as a team. From that point of view, they’ve been super impressive.
On how he’s feeling heading into the new season:
I’m going to get back to being big in the contest and being aggressive, and play to my strengths. That’s my sole focus.
My body now feels really good. I’ve had a solid block of work now so, like I said before, it’s a good platform to build off.
On negotiating Covid delays, as per the AFLW season:
It’s the great unknown. Hopefully the big wave has hit and it doesn’t come again. If it does, you’ve just got to roll with the punches. You can’t think too far ahead. One thing about our list is we think we’ve got a lot of depth. If that does happen, we’ve got to find a way to make it work.
