“I’M REALLY excited for the next 6-8 years of what we’ve created and where that will go.”
The opportunity to build something from the ground up has never been a challenge that Patrick Cripps has shied away from.
Now, he hopes that the years of hard work from a Navy Blue point of view will begin to reap rewards for players, coaches and fans alike.
Speaking on former teammate Dylan Buckley’s Dyl and Friends podcast, Cripps was asked to reminisce of what could have been on the night of the 2013 NAB AFL Draft.
With picks from West Coast, Richmond and Greater Western Sydney falling immediately before and after Carlton’s selections, Cripps would ultimately become a Blue with pick No.13.
And as he told Buckley, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You can look in hypothetical all the time, but it’s not where you’re at at the moment,” Cripps said.
“I’ve always seen it as although I came to the Club at a really difficult time, I’ve really enjoyed the challenge of it. I’m not going to lie, there are times in those years where you try to find motivation and keep going.
“I think that’s the beauty of where our group is at right now. We’ve been through a lot of hard times. We’ve all tried to stick together, grow as a group, create a culture where everyone comes and they can be themselves and get better as a person and a player.
“Now, we’re in a really strong position to really climb up the ladder and have a lot of fun with the group we’ve built around.”
“We know that a lot of our fans' minds go to ‘here we go again’ or ‘it hasn’t happened yet’.
— Carlton FC (@CarltonFC) March 3, 2021
"We feel like it’s not far away from going ‘we’re about to go again’, rather than going the other way.”
On the eve of his eighth season in Navy Blue, Cripps said he was completely optimistic of the opportunities that lie in front of the boys from Ikon Park.
“I’m really excited for the next 6-8 years of what we’ve created and where that will go,” he said.
“I like to think I’m coming into the years where you’re going to play your best footy between 26 and 30.
“We’ve got a good mix of young and old on the list. We’ve got a lot of talent coming through aged between 21 and 23 that are really impressive and taking their game to the next level.
“You want to create your own path.”
