“I FEEL like right now, we’ve learnt to be a solid club, a good club. But the next stage for us is learning how to be a great club.

“That’s high performance.”

Carlton captain Patrick Cripps is intent on driving his team to level up after the way in which the 2024 season ended.

While exiting the finals series early is never ideal, Cripps is positive that they can harness their disappointment and frustration into motivation and higher standards as a collective.

Admitting success doesn’t come overnight, the 29-year-old mused on the beginning of his days at Carlton and how far the Club had come in that period, while also acknowledging that the Blues would have to ask the tough questions in their search for success.

“You don’t just jump from where you are to the top. These are the lessons you have to learn and the position we’ve been in as a club, a long time we’ve been down the bottom and that’s the reality,” Cripps said.

“When you’re trying to get to the top, you have to learn a lot of lessons along the way and you don’t know what you don’t know but those experiences teach you valuable lessons on how to get better.

“We want to keep the joy in it but the reality is that we have to keep challenging to get better.”

Always pushing himself and everyone around him to be at the top of their game, Cripps acknowledged it would take every person at the Club – not just the players – to raise the standards and commit to being a high performance environment.

Using current feelings to fuel their 2025 campaign will be top of mind, with the captain saying ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’.

“The hunger is always going to be there because everyone wants the same thing, it’s just learning how to get there,” he said.

“When you put so much time and effort into something that you want so bad, you’re always going to feel hurt – in a way, if you don’t feel that, you don’t value the other stuff or your ambition isn’t high enough.”

Despite having one of his best seasons to date, Cripps still has plenty he wants to work on for the future: including his game, his leadership skills and his development as a person.

While he felt he developed more consistency in his game on-field this year, and grew as a leader, the job is never done for the midfielder, who wants to make an impact every time he steps out onto the field.

“I’m always one to try and get the most out of myself – I just use every game as another chance to show my potential and also learn lessons that I’ve experienced and try and apply those lessons and elements I’ve worked on in my craft,” he said.

“I was probably able to notice some jumps this year with the consistency I was able to produce this year compared to last year.”

With a daughter of his own and a Club about to burst at the seams with baby fever, Cripps feels like the team is growing on and off the field together – a prospect that excites him and makes him reminisce on country life.

Wanting to always facilitate a strong culture and connection at IKON Park, the midfielder couldn’t be more pleased to see his teammates become fathers and is looking forward to more family moments they can share amongst success.

“In a way, we’re all growing up together, we’re learning together – that’s what good environments around connection are about,” he said.

“Footy clubs are unique: it’s our work but there’s something about footy clubs that’s not work, it’s a community and that’s what I love about them and that’s what I’m trying to keep driving and creating.”

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