Patrick Cripps’ younger brother unable to nominate for national draft unless AFL grants exemption

The younger brother of Carlton star Patrick Cripps will ask the AFL for special permission to nominate for this year’s national draft after a season-ending injury left him ineligible.

Jordan De Goey was a draft bolter. Picture: Getty Images

Carlton captain Patrick Cripps’ younger brother will require a special exemption from the AFL to qualify for this year’s national draft.

Josh Cripps ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee while playing school football for Aquinas last month, ruling him out for the season.

Without a WAFL Colts game under his belt Cripps would be ineligible to nominate for the 2020 draft.

But the AFL is certain to tick off on an exemption if Cripps wants one due to his injury.

The rules are in place to prevent clubs from hiding players rather than to snooker an injured prospect.

While the Blues secured Patrick Cripps with pick No.13 in 2013 as a huge midfielder who would quickly dominate the AFL, Josh was viewed as a late draft or rookie prospect before his knee injury.

The 197cm marking forward was not on the AFL radar at Under-16 level and was only invited to WAFL club East Fremantle this year.

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Patrick Cripps with younger brother Josh and third-cousin Jamie.

With limited data on the younger Cripps available, AFL clubs are unsure whether he will get selected this year.

Recruiters were hoping to see more of Cripps in order to make a proper assessment.

If the AFL reduces list sizes next year that would make it even tougher for Cripps to earn a two-year contract as a national draft pick.

But if Cripps is overlooked then clubs are certain to keep tracking his development in years to come given his upside and rich bloodlines.

The draft eligibility rules have caused problems in the west before.

In 2015 a bungled WAFL registration cost Tim English the chance to get drafted a year before he joined the Western Bulldogs.

Recruiters from one or two clubs wanted English registered to Claremont so they could use a late pick on him after a run of promising school games as an 18-year-old.

But the WAFL rejected English’s application because he was actually zoned to South Fremantle and so he was not able to enter the draft.

English returned as a 19-year-old in 2016 and, after a 20cm growth spurt in three years, starred on his way to becoming a top-20 draft pick.

LOST SEASON WILL HURT LATE BLOOMERS

Andy McGrath started his draft year dreaming about running in the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

The Canadian-born school captain was better known as the national 400m hurdles champion rather than bursting out of the Brighton Grammar backline.

Pace bowler Jordan Clark’s five-wicket haul against Pakistan in Dubai the year before he was selected by Geelong included a hat-trick.

Jack Macrae and Toby Greene simply weren’t good enough to play for Oakleigh Chargers as 17-year-olds.

Dandenong Stingrays believed Toby McLean’s fitness was so far off the pace they cut him from their TAC Cup squad after a 3km time trial.

Vic Country didn’t consider a chubby Clayton Oliver halfway through his draft year, and Oliver’s skinfolds only came down when a rigorous post-season diet and running program saw him shed 4kg.

But Essendon crowned McGrath the No.1 pick in 2016, the Cats used No.15 on Clark in 2018 and, after breaking into the Chargers’ line-up as 18-year-olds, Macrae went at No.6 (2012) and Greene at No.11 (2011).

As for McLean, he won a second chance at Oakleigh and was then drafted at No.26 – before any Stingrays player – while Oliver went to Melbourne with the third live pick in the 2015 draft.

These are just some of the recent players who used their Under-18 season to rocket on to AFL radars after they were largely unheard of.

Jack Macrae couldn’t get a game for Oakleigh as a 17-year-old, but brother Finlay was so good as a bottom-ager he could be a top-10 pick this year.

In 2020 the Victorian late bloomers are unlikely to be given that opportunity.

Games are back in South Australia and Western Australia but footy’s heartland – which produces about 50 per cent of the draft – is in lockdown.

The VFL was cancelled on Wednesday and the NAB League and school football is expected to follow.

Fortunately for the Macraes, Jack’s younger brother Finlay showed enough as a bottom-ager to be a top 10 or 20 pick this year.

But what about the bolters? There are usually two or three in the top 30.

Will recruiters be able to find them this year?

“You’re going to need creativity, good processes and the courage to back yourself,” one expert said.

Adelaide is likely to have five picks in the top-30, and that would leave the Crows well-positioned to swing the bat at speculative prospects with enormous upside.

Get it right and they might just explode next year.

Glenelg’s Kaine Baldwin is one prospect in that uncertain range.

The 194cm key forward looked a top-five talent at 16, but knee reconstructions since have left Baldwin, like the Victorians, underexposed.

This year’s Under-16 carnival has already been cancelled. Those kids have lost the first milestone that makes their AFL dream seem tangible.

The AFL has lost the chance to identify the hottest prospects to make sure they get the “coaching and cuddling” required to keep going, instead of focusing on other sports.

Kaine Baldwin was a top-five prospect as a 16-year-old. Picture SARAH REED

And clubs have lost their look at the futures market, which helps list managers decide whether to trade in or out of future drafts.

Decisions on this year’s locals will largely boil down to practice match form and stats, online interviews and NAB League club recommendations.

“You can’t find them unless they play,” a veteran recruiter said.

“It’s difficult to go with them (draft them) when you haven’t seen them play live.

“The vision is OK but I like to see them live. You see what they do off the ball a lot better, that’s important.”

Next, recruiters want to know what is happening with list sizes.

Gold Coast already has 41 players signed for 2021 so will they be frozen in 2021 or slashed?

If they come down, will clubs only have to use two compulsory draft picks instead of three?

A list cut to 35 – and cull of AFL development coaches – would intensify the pressure on coaches such as Gary Ayres (Port Melbourne) and Andy Collins (Williamstown) to produce AFL prospects.

The likes of Tom Stewart (Geelong VFL), Tim Kelly (South Fremantle), Luke Ryan (Coburg), Dane Rampe, Kane Lambert (Williamstown), Dayne Zorko (Broadbeach), Brody Mihocek (Port Melbourne) Liam Ryan (Subiaco) and Willie Rioli (Glenelg) all proved they could make it without the finishing school that AFL clubs have become.

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Bulldogs legend Dale Morris spent five years getting rejected but had the mental strength to keep persisting.

But how many prospects would lack that level of dedication, instead tempted to earn easy cash playing local footy while, as Dan Andrews would say, getting on the beers?

Or perhaps take up another sport? Or pursue a college scholarship in the US, as a reverse Mason Cox?

These are just some of the unanswered questions swirling around in a year that is set to change the landscape forever.

Originally published as Patrick Cripps’ younger brother unable to nominate for national draft unless AFL grants exemption