IT’S WHAT Patrick Cripps has been thinking about ever since stopping through the doors of IKON Park a decade ago.

And it seems for all intents and purposes, he was built for it: finals football.

With a massive crowd at IKON Park for the Blues’ open training session, the captain fronted media to speak about the emotions and the expectations of playing in September.

Here’s what he had to say.

On the last few weeks:

“It’s been great. The buzz around the place has been massive, the boys are excited. It was an important session for us today, a solid hitout. 

“It’s all new for a lot of us, we’re embracing it. It’s great to see so many fans out here today and when the weather’s like this, you know it feels like finals.”

On his body:

“I felt good. Having a week off definitely did the world of good. I did everything today and I’m good to go. It’s a real confidence booster for me.”

On the path to securing a top-eight berth:

“It was pretty surreal, to be honest. It feels like so much hard work after so many years. The Melbourne game was where the emotion was high, that was the game we thought we were a big chance. Then, going up to the Gold Coast with a lot of Carlton supporters when we left the ground, there was about 300 fans around the bus. 

“It’s one thing making it, now we want to impact it. We don’t want to make up the numbers: we’re eager to have a big impact and we know our best footy stacks up. We’ve got one more main session before the Swans next Friday, and we’ll be having a red hot crack. 

“Playing in front of a full MCG, that’s what you dream of as a kid.”

On the path to finals football:

“I feel like in my mind, I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time as well as a lot of the other boys. We’re fortunate that playing for a big club like Carlton, we’ve played in a lot of prime-time slots like Round 1, against Collingwood there’s always 80,000 or 90,000. 

“Even that [Pies] game at the end of last year, it was a finals-like atmosphere, so even though a lot of us haven’t played in a final, we feel like we have.”

On his previous experience:

“I was chatting to a mate, the last final I played was I think when I was 14. When we were Colts, we just missed out, and the state-15s was just a round robin. It’s cool. 

“You feel like you’ve been grinding for a long time, so to be in a position where we feel like we can have a crack at it is all you can do. As long as we go in with the right mindset and play with the physicality like we know we can, we’ll back ourselves against anyone.”

On the importance of a home final:

"It’s pretty cool playing a home final, we knew that was important coming into our campaign going forward. When you have supporters like ours, they ride the highs and the lows and they’re just excited as we are. 

“I know the game’s a sellout. [Sydney] is a team I really respect and I think they play their footy the right way and are hard in the contest. When you get to this level, you’re going to play good teams the whole way through. You really want to embrace it and get after them.”

On Blake Acres:

“He did some laps today. He’s pretty bullish he’ll get up. He’s been an important player for us this year. He gives great energy for us and does a lot of the stuff that people don’t see that we highlight internally.”

On the training session as a whole:

“We had a fair crack out there today. The boys are revved up and ready to go. 

“Training sets us up for our game and that’s been one of the big turnarounds in the middle part of the year: the way we’ve trained has given us a lot of confidence.”

On a physical Friday night in store:

“That’s our brand, but it’s also their brand. When you talk about the Bloods culture, we know what’s going to come our way. 

“Finals comes with a contested game and it could be an arm wrestle for a long period. It’s about whose system and content can hold for longer. We’re expecting their best, and I’m sure they’re expecting ours.”

On the reaction of the Carlton faithful:

“When I first got drafted, I always said you don’t realise how big a game the Club is until you get over here. Shane O’Sullivan who is a Club icon down here has always said you won’t understand what it’s like until you get to finals and you get rolling. I’m starting to feel that now. 

“They’ve been huge for us in the back half of the year, and we’re going to need them on Friday night. I’m sure there’ll be people on the light towers, they’ll be coming from everywhere!”

On the permanent smile on his face:

“I’m usually on holidays at this time of year!”