Patrick Cripps says players should get ‘real world’ jobs if AFL pre-season is cut
Carlton co-captain Patrick Cripps says players should get ‘real world’ jobs if the AFL acts on calls to start pre-season training later. And he knows where he’ll be sending his resume.
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Footballers should get “real world” job experience if the pre-season is shortened, according to Carlton co-captain Patrick Cripps.
Brownlow medallist Jimmy Bartel and former Blue and Saint Matthew Lappin are among those to have called for the pre-season to be cut shorter, raising the issue of mental burnout from a four-week pre-Christmas training block.
Lappin labelled this week’s start to the pre-season as “madness”, while Bartel said players could now be trusted to stay fit and that a December or early-January start date would be appropriate.
Cripps said if that happened, a non-football job should be first item on the agenda for players.
“I think it all depends on where your list is at,” he said.
“We’re at the stage now where our list is at an old enough level where they know what they’ve got to do in the break to come back in really good shape, which the boys did.
“I’m a big advocate of if we get less time in the pre-season, we should go out and get a job somewhere out there to get a bit of work life experience.
“I think that would be good for mental health, but also career development after footy.”
The Western Australian said his vocation outside of football would “probably be a farm”.
“I do (agricultural business), so something along the ag-business line, but I think just getting out in the real world and experiencing what it’s like ... we spend all our life in the footy bubble,” he said.
“It’s a good way to meet different people and put footy in perspective of what life’s all about.”
Cripps said he had lost 2kg in an effort to improve his pre-season, which today included the launch of the Blues’ new playing kit.
“If this doesn’t work, I can quickly chuck a few (kilos) on and just get back in the weights room,” he said.
“At the moment I feel like I’m moving a bit better, but I’ve still got the long grind of the pre-season to go, so I’ll work out what weight I best play at.”
Fellow skipper Sam Docherty — who missed all of the 2019 season with an ACL injury — said he is now doing “about 80 per cent of training” as he eyes a return.
“I’ll do most of the stuff apart from the game simulation and the really highly competitive stuff,” he said.
“I’ll probably wait until about mid-January and will do a pretty much full pre-season apart from up to Christmas. I’m really excited to be back, and seeing the way the boys have returned has put a bit of a pep in my step.”
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Cripps said he had been in touch with Jack Martin as the former Sun looms as a potential selection in the pre-season draft.
“He went to school at Geraldton boarding school which is about 50km from my home town,” Cripps said.
“I knew him from state under-15s. I’ve always touched based along the way. He’s a ripper player, so we’ll see how that pans out.”
Originally published as Patrick Cripps says players should get ‘real world’ jobs if AFL pre-season is cut