A TRIMMED down Patrick Cripps has his sights set on adding to his already dominant game.

The last two seasons have been nothing short of memorable for Cripps, adding the 2019 AFLPA MVP to consecutive John Nicholls Medal and All-Australian selections.

However, the message is simple for the co-captain: there’s still improvement to come for Carlton’s No.9.

Back in November, Cripps revealed that he had shed a couple of kilos in the lead-up to the 2020 season: assistant coach Brent Stanton said the midfield bull was feeling the difference.

“‘Crippa’ had a really big focus of trying to drop two or three kilos to help his transition work. He knew and he got the feedback last season that it was an area where we still needed him to grow,” Stanton told Carlton Media.

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Line by line | Cripps "ready to fire"

See what assistant coach Brent Stanton had to say about Patrick Cripps' preparation for 2020.

“It’s pretty exciting that a guy who is that good can still improve by trying to lose a bit of weight to cover the ground a bit more. He’s in great shape.

“He feels the difference — that’s the main thing. ‘Jack’ [Andrew Russell] and himself have put in a lot of work to get him to that weight but keep his strength at the same time.”

It’s that power which Stanton unsurprisingly described as Cripps’ “one wood”.

While saying that the co-captain was focusing on his work around the ground, it had been his contested work where he continued to shine.

“We’re starting to get a little bit more of that stoppage work into our training now,” he said.

“You can see the joy that he’s getting out of that. It’s going to be a mix of both.

“We’re really going to see ‘Crippa’ fire in a couple of weeks.”

Given Cripps’ exploits and awards, it’s easy to forget that he’s still just 24 years of age (he turns 25 in March).

Stanton said that Carlton supporters could expect even further improvement from one of the competition’s very best.

“We think he’s a veteran, but he’s still quite young. He’s built over this pre-season and he’s learning the ropes on how he adapts to where he needs to get at the right time of the year,” he said.

“He has built his way into this pre-season and a lot of it has been transition work.

“Patty is doing really well.”