Carlton co-captain Patrick Cripps is honoured to have been named AFL Players’ Association MVP, but doesn’t believe it will translate to Brownlow Medal success.
Since the inception of the AFL Players’ MVP Award in 1982, 13 winners of the Leigh Matthews Trophy have gone on to win that year’s Brownlow.
But Cripps said he thought he would be up against it in the Brownlow race, citing the form of a number of fellow contenders.
“I think I’m going to be battling, it’s one of those awards I reckon six or seven guys could win it this year,” he said.
“Obviously there’s (Lachie) Neale, (Marcus) Bontempelli, (Nat) Fyfe, (Patrick) Dangerfield, Tim Kelly … and there’s a lot of other good players.”
Cripps was the runaway winner of the Leigh Matthews Trophy, recording 832 votes – a massive 313 more than Geelong’s runner-up Tim Kelly.
The 24-year-old said he took particular pride in the award as it was voted upon by his opponents.
“You love playing against the best players and when you compete against guys and they actually vote for you … especially the top gong.
“It’s pretty awesome and six years ago I wouldn’t have thought I’d be in this position.”
Cripps enjoyed a stellar 2019 season, averaging 28 disposals, 8.5 clearances, 6.2 tackles and 17 contested possessions per game on his way to claiming his second All-Australian guernsey.
He now hoped to add scoreboard potency to his game, having kicked 47 goals in 101 career games.
“You pride yourself on adding strings to your bow every off-season and you want to get better,” Cripps said.
“I really want to hit the scoreboard a bit more. I think the really elite midfielders hit around 20 goals a year.
“Dangerfield usually hits 20 a lot and I think that’s the sign of a really good team.”