Nick Riewoldt believes Patrick Cripps will remain at Carlton to achieve success
Patrick Cripps is out of contract at the end of 2021 and his lack of team success is no doubt frustrating. But if you think he could turn his back on the Blues – think again.
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I don’t know Patrick Cripps.
But I judge him on what I hear and what I see.
I believe that what we witness players do for two hours every weekend, gives us an insight into the type of person they are.
I see Patrick Cripps the warrior. The leader of men. A pro’s pro. Resilient. Inspirational. Loyal.
Suggestions this week that the Carlton captain could or should look to take his talents elsewhere won’t have sat comfortably with him.
Nor should it, because it can reflect poorly on the club and team that he leads.
You won’t find a soul pointing the finger at Cripps, but knowing the burden a captain wears, he’ll be taking that personally.
A stay or go list of pros and cons has dominated football discussion this week.
Cripps will be 26 before the start of the 2021 season and is yet to play in a final.
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Since the beginning of 2014, the year Cripps made his Blues debut, the club has won 33 games. In that same period the Gold Coast Suns have won 34.
So on face value Carlton is yet to deliver him a compelling case to spend his entire career at Ikon Park.
Cripps keeps telling us he’s desperate for success. He’s sick of losing. One only needs to watch the way he imposes his will on the contest or the hurt he exudes after a defeat to comprehend the level of his desperation.
When a player like Tom Lynch calls time on his stint with the Suns and 12 months later has a premiership medal around his neck it provides a reference point for those arguing the “Patty should leave” case.
Lynch did it and it worked for him so why shouldn’t Cripps? Hasn’t he earned the right?
True, Lynch is now a premiership player and without doubt complemented an already dominant team. He’s a star.
But unlike his premiership teammates in Trent Cotchin, Dustin Martin, Jack Riewoldt and
Shane Edwards, he has missed out — at least to date — on one of the truly special aspects of competing in a team sport.
The chance to grow together. To build something from the ground up. To wear the hits year after year and feel the cold sting of defeat prior to finally arriving at the ultimate destination.
It’s a feeling I almost know.
But I can say with confidence that the harder the journey, the sweeter the summit must be.
Shane Crawford can attest to that. A one club player and a premiership in his 305th and final game.
It might take Cripps until his last game to reach that elusive peak, but he strikes me as the sort of person that once he starts something he will want to finish it.
That’s why he should remain a Blue — the competitor in him would find it too hard to walk away from the challenge or ignore the carrot of success dangling in front of him.
The question from within the inner sanctum at Carlton should not be: Will he go? It should be: What are we doing to reward his loyalty?
His teammates must answer that call.
He needs help on every front. Performance and leadership.
Tonight’s game at the Cattery has the potential to get ugly for the Blues.
We know what Cripps will deliver.
But Paddy Dow, Sam Petrevski-Seton, Mitch McGovern, Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow (when he’s fit) must all jump in behind their leader and lift their output if they wish to ride the wave to success like Richmond.
Cripps is already carrying the club on his ample shoulders, and he appears to thrive on that. He’s aware just how special his place in Carlton’s history would be if he becomes the man to lead them back to the glory days.
But he can’t single-handedly drag them up the mountain.
The sooner he sees his teammates buying into his philosophy and delivering on the uncompromising level of effort that he consistently displays, the less we’ll hear people talk about why he should leave and take the path of least resistance, and the more we will hear him say: “I’m winning a premiership with the Blues, or I’ll die trying.”
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Originally published as Nick Riewoldt believes Patrick Cripps will remain at Carlton to achieve success