2024 Brownlow Medal: Carlton star Patrick Cripps proves you are never too good to work hard and get better

The Olympic motto of Citius, Altius, Fortius – faster, higher, stronger – might well apply to Carlton’s dual Brownlow medallist Patrick Cripps. Cripps spent last summer working with West Australian sprint coach Mark Neitz to improve his speed and agility off the mark. He also dedicated more time to his goalkicking. This is a faster, higher and stronger Cripps and now with a second Brownlow Medal in his pocket, except this one is minus the controversy. Cripps won his first in 2022 in the shadow of a hotly debated decision to overturn a two-week suspension for a head-high hit for an “error of law” that then AFL boss Gill McLachlan said left him “very agitated” and led to a tweak of the rules. The Geraldton product now has one without the metaphorical asterisk as he became the 17th player since the award’s inception 100 years ago to win the Brownlow a second time. On October 6, he will start Carlton’s fairest-and-best as favourite to secure a fifth John Nicholls Medal, drawing alongside the eponymous ruck great. At 29 and with his 200th AFL game in the bank, Cripps is left chasing the one prize that has so far proved elusive, a premiership medal. A relatively injury-free Cripps produced another season of consistent elite football, highlighted by four belters: a 39-possession effort against Greater Western Sydney in round six 39, 41 possessions, 18 of them in the contest, 14 clearances and five tackles against Geelong in round 15, 40 and a goal against Richmond in round 16 and 35 against West Coast in round 23. His round 15 and 16 tallies meant he was the first player in more than five years to win 40-plus touches in successive weeks. Cripps amassed 30 or more disposals 10 times throughout the home-and-away season and double-digit clearances games in seven games. In three matches he won a combined 39 clearances, breaking Brett Ratten’s record of 38 in 1999 as the most by any Carlton player across that many games. After his 2022 win, Cripps was already the sixth individual Brownlow medallist at the club, behind Bert Deacon (1947), John James (1961), Gordon Collis (1964), Greg Williams 1994 and Chris Judd (2010). While Williams and Judd won two Brownlows, Cripps is the first to claim a brace with the Blues.