PATRICK Cripps will again lead by example against Melbourne on Saturday night - and in doing reach a considerable personal milestone in his Carlton football life.
In chesting the banner for game No.106 as club captain, Cripps surpasses Chris Judd in fifth place for most VFL/AFL games as team leader – and within reach is Marc Murphy as captain in 112 games and Craig Bradley (116).
Beyond them is John Nicholls, who captained Carlton into 188 senior matches and Stephen Kernahan into 226.
Bradley could not be contacted this week, but Judd, Murphy, Nicholls and Kernahan each paid tribute to Patrick Cripps, Carlton captain. Their tributes are as follows:
Stephen Kernahan - “It’s great having a beast captain the Carlton Football Club. He’s hard at it, he leads from the front, and I love the way he plays.”
John Nicholls - “I remember talking to Patrick when he was joint captain. It was a couple of years ago and he came to my home mainly to talk about his goalkicking, but we talked about the captaincy. I said to him: ‘When you are captain you have to use it as a reason to be your best and set the example’ - and he’s certainly doing that with the way he plays and puts his body in.”
Marc Murphy - “‘Crippa’ was always a star before the captaincy, but he’s taken his game to the next level in winning the Brownlow last year and performing as he has in the past seven weeks. He still leads from the front, but now he doesn’t need to carry the team on his back and he’s impacting on games even more.”
Chris Judd - “Patrick’s been brilliant for the footy club. He’s been such a strong leader, he’s stood up for so many years, carried such a huge weight and remained loyal. It’s been great to see him evolve. I take great joy seeing him in this phase of his career where he’s playing in a team that’s winning and playing great footy - and he has plenty of great footy left.”
Most VFL/AFL games as Carlton captain
Stephen Kernahan (226 games, 1987-’97)
John Nicholls (188 games, 1963 & 1968-’74)
Craig Bradley (116 games, 1998-2001)
Marc Murphy (112 games, 2013-2018)
PATRICK CRIPPS (105 games, 2019 - )
Chris Judd (105 games, 2008-2012)
