IF YOU’RE wondering how Patrick Cripps got through Carlton’s rough patch in mid-season, here’s your answer.

An AppleTV subscription and Ted Lasso.

Relatable.

Back in Round 12, Carlton Media’s game-day graphic was its leadership group pointing to the ‘BELIEVE’ sign made famous by the popular show.

Carlton Reserves coach and Head of Development Luke Power has already spoken about his love of the affable - and fictional - football manager from Kansas. That night of the Round 12 game, fans in the stands even made their own versions of that very sign above.

You can add the skipper to that list. 

When asked what 2023 taught him, Cripps mentioned something he’s made a point of a number of times throughout this year: “never let someone take the joy away from what you do”.

The psychology of sport has always been a significant area of interest for the 2022 Brownlow Medallist, and he found himself getting lost in it when things were tough.

“It was funny: when we were going through that tough time, I watched a lot of Ted Lasso. If anyone hasn’t watched that show, it’s a really important one about the psychology of sport, life in general and what you can get out of it,” Cripps said.

“I was watching it at that time, and it really helped me through. I read something the other other day — ‘I had these dreams before people had these opinions’. 

“What it taught me is you can control what you can control. You tell your own story, and you don’t let others tell it for you.

“We tried to have as much fun as we could in here. It’s hard sometimes when you’re in everyday and there are cameras out the front when you’re trying to get to where you need to go, but the group did a great job having fun.

“We’ve learnt a lot as a group and know what makes us good, and how we can have an environment where people love coming to work.”

What about that word, the central premise of Ted Lasso — ‘BELIEVE’?

Cripps maintains that his side never lost belief, but it was clear that couldn’t be said about confidence levels. It made things tough through what really were the greys of winter.

“Confidence is hard. You can’t measure it, you don’t know it, you get the same guys running out on the field when sometimes they’re really good [confidence-wise] and other weeks they’re not,” he said.

“I felt like we knew we were going to be a really good side, but when you have so many guys low on confidence, you don’t get the best out of them. 

“The external noise definitely filtrated into certain guys at some point — most of the group actually. We found a way out of it.”

How do you get through that? Did he channel Ted and ‘be a goldfish’? Did he assemble his own version of the Diamond Dogs?

“Control the controllables.

“Have fun. Be a good teammate. All the things that you love doing growing up. We found a way to bounce of it.

“The guys believe, mate. That’s what hurts the most about losing the prelim: we genuinely had the belief we could go on and win it. I feel like the belief is stronger now.

“I’m so proud of the group. There’s definitely a hunger there.”