ALL players across the competition are doing their best to keep busy and on track for a return to footy, whenever that comes.

It's no different for one of the game's best in Patrick Cripps, who has returned home for the next few weeks like a number of players in the AFL.

Speaking from the family farm in Northampton, Cripps spoke to Carlton Media about his thoughts around the season, his role as captain in uncertain times and an update on certain West Australian teammates.

Here's the first of the two-part chat: part two will come on Thursday 16 April.

How’s Northampton treating you in isolation, ‘Crippa’?

PC: It’s been good, it’s pretty chilled out up here and very isolated. We’ve been getting through: it’s been fun but we’re getting to that stage now where the realisation of it all is settling in. We can’t do much about it, can we?

Our closest neighbour is a couple of kilometres away. Farm life is pretty chilled out: you can still go into town which is 20km away but you get used to it. It’s a nice place to be at the moment, at this time of year.

When it comes to team meetings over Zoom, how does the country wi-fi treat you?

PC: The boys have nicknamed me ‘2G’ at the moment: they can’t hear me that well with the audio. Reception on the farm isn’t the greatest, safe to say. I’ve been keeping in contact with all of the boys and messaging them, as well as the meetings we’ve had as a team.

They’re a bit hard for me to tune into with connection a bit sketchy: I normally chuck myself on mute so I don’t mess up the meeting. By the sounds of it, everyone is using this as a mental refresher but keeping fit. From all reports, everyone is going alright at the moment.

Have you checked in with any of your teammates on a one-on-one basis, or has it all been in that group setting?

PC: I’ve been trying to get through most of the list one-on-one, sending them a text to see how they’re going and making sure they’re alright firstly. Then you see how their training is going, especially with the younger guys considering it’s a unique situation for them.

It’s making sure they’re using this as a good time to train hard and gain a bit of ground on the second, third and fourth-year players. So far, they all seem to be attacking it pretty well but I guess you don’t really know until you’re back at the Club and back into it. 

In normal circumstances, you generally speak very often with co-captain with Sam Docherty about the goings on at Ikon Park. Has that changed at all?

PC: It’s been good: we always talk a fair bit about the list and guys we think we should be checking in on a bit more or if anyone is struggling. We’ve been talking a bit. From all reports, all the boys are going really well.

As leaders, over the whole break we’re making sure we’re checking in and everyone is going alright from a wellbeing point-of-view. Hopefully they’re getting their training done and still smiling, getting some sort of enjoyment out of this time. It’s not the best time but you’ve got to take some positives out of it.

How do you think Zac Fisher is coping without you?

PC: There was talk of doing a podcast with ‘Fish’ and myself this week but 2G reception wouldn’t work too well with the podcast. He’s fine, he enjoys his PlayStation so I’m sure he’d be punching out some hours every day.

A lot of the boys have gone home and there aren’t too many players left in the city. He’s going alright, he obviously had his ankle injury so he’s doing his rehab. He’s also in that Lockdown League as well so he’ll be keeping busy.

Obviously it’s a unique circumstance with such a long layoff since Round 1. Has that missed opportunity in the season opener played over in your mind in recent weeks?

PC: You’d obviously love to win in Round 1. We didn’t start the game well but after quarter time, we controlled a lot of the game and played the way we wanted to. It’s been a weird month to be honest. After the game, we had the weekend off and then the season got postponed.

I haven’t dissected the game thoroughly yet: we’ll do that when we get back. It’s definitely disappointing that we didn’t win but there is some confidence to take out of it.

One of the big appeals for Jack Martin coming to Carlton was playing in front of big crowds. Have you spoken to him after playing in front of an empty MCG in Round 1?

PC: I tried to brainwash him last year about the big crowds. He played better than anyone in front of no crowd so I wouldn’t mind if he keeps reproducing that kind of performance.

The way he played, I’ve said it a few times: no-one has seen the best of Jack Martin. Carlton fans can become pretty accustomed to performances like that, he’s a star. He did very well.

In terms of the injury front, do you take heart out of the fact that players are likely to be available once footy returns — whenever that is?

PC: Once we get back, we’ll get a few of our forwards back which will be nice additions, without a doubt. I’m always one to look at the positives instead of the negatives. I’d love to be playing but once we’re back, we’ll have Harry back, we’ll have Eddie back, we’ll have ‘Marchy’ back, Charlie will gain a lot of ground with his knee and ‘Fish’ and ‘Newy’ will have time to recover from the injuries from the game and be ready for Round 2.

In some sort of way, it’s beneficial for our team on the injury front and they’ll be able to get a training block before we actually play.