“THAT’S something that out of everything we got out of the year, you’re the proudest of.”
As captain and co-vice captain of the Carlton Football Club, Patrick Cripps and Sam Walsh have seen a fair bit in Navy Blue.
The 2026 season marked Cripps’ 13th at the level, while it was Walsh’s eighth - even though Cripps said “it feels like yesterday” that Walsh was making his Carlton debut.
They’ve lived some wild campaigns, but the season just gone may take the cake as the wildest of them all.
Starting the year with a record of 1-8 and letting key winning opportunities slip, the Blues enjoyed a wave of momentum in the second half of the year all the way to an elimination final loss to Geelong.
Speaking to Carlton Media at the conclusion of the year, the leaders said that the way the playing group and wider club stayed together during adversity was a source of pride.
“Through tough times, you find out even more about your teammates - we found out what this group is about,” Cripps said.
“I’m proud of the character of the group and the way we made something of the year: going into this time compared to last year, we’ve got a clearer identity of what we want to be about and it’s a little bit more known when it comes to what we can expect next year.”
Walsh added: “When you start to create a bit of an identity of how you want to play, it becomes infectious and the crowd gets involved. The best thing was you could see us playing footy with smiles on our faces and backing each other in.
“That was at both levels, AFL and VFL. Everyone has a role to play in that, the group has been good at bringing their strengths: that’s what’s going to take us to where we want to get to.”
Now making finals campaigns in three of the last four seasons, the Blues went about it in a different way in the back end of the year. While their incredible run to a preliminary final in 2023 was typified by the contest and a refusal to relent, the 2026 edition saw some free-flowing, offensive football.
For the eternal optimist Cripps, he regards it as “some of the most enjoyable football I’ve been a part of”.
He also puts it down to the locker-room environment which underwent a noticeable, conscious change over the course of 12 months.
“I feel like we’ve had runs in the past, but I feel like this one… we’ve always defended and done the contest really well, but I thought we had the attacking game and put teams away, which was really pleasing.
“To be honest, the locker room shift was probably day one of pre-season. I think we did a great job with the lessons of 2025, about what we wanted the environment to be and how we get after it.
“We were really clear that no matter what happens throughout the year, wins or losses, we control our energy. That was a big shift, and I think why we held together around the tough period at the start.”
While attention will soon turn to where the team could take their game in 2027, Walsh said the Blues couldn’t afford to crystal ball too far into the future.
Having been part of environments before where football can teach you a harsh lesson, Walsh said it was paramount for the Blues to stay present and use the lessons of 2026 to shape the path forward.
“What we learned at the start of the year is it’s that hard to win games of AFL footy. The work you put in has got to be at a high level, that doesn’t change from day one of pre-season or the work you do in the off-season,” Walsh said.
“Speaking to the group about how important this period is to set up the year, I really believe if you have a full pre-season, it gives you the confidence to do anything either as an individual or as a group. For now, that’s where our focus has got to be.”
