After being challenged by caretaker coach David Teague to forget about Carlton’s struggles and simply focus on playing his best football, Patrick Cripps delivered a masterpiece.
The Carlton skipper was at his sublime best on Saturday as the Blues posted a desperately-needed win over Brisbane in Teague’s first game in charge.
In a performance certain to net him three Brownlow Medal votes, Cripps gathered 38 disposals and eight clearances while also booting a career-best four goals.
All four majors came in the second half as Cripps inspired the Blues, who trailed by three goals at halftime, to an 11.12 (78) to 9.9 (63) victory.
Cripps’ individual brilliance amid four wins from 43 previous games has been a shining light for Blues supporters.
But the physical and mental burden on the 24-year-old’s shoulders has been obvious.
All too often, the Blues – lacking mature bodies to support the 195cm and 93kg Cripps – have been unable to find answers when he is quelled by opposition taggers.
But after a tumultuous week that began with the sacking of coach Brendon Bolton, Teague encouraged Cripps to re-focus.
“Today, he probably went back to just being the best footballer he can be,” Teague said.
“As the captain, sometimes you take the burden on of the team performance, and I challenged him today just to be the best footballer he could be.
“If he leads from the front with his football, then I think everything else will take care of itself. And he did that today.”
Brisbane initially sent Jarryd Lyons to Cripps at the stoppages in a bid to quell his influence but soon realised it was futile.
“We were sitting on Cripps until we thought ‘well gee, it’s not helping us. We’d better just hunt ourselves’,” Lions coach Chris Fagan said.
“He was outstanding, wasn’t he … he led from the front and he was a large reason why Carlton won.”
The Blues host the Western Bulldogs next Saturday and Teague, who also lauded the performances of Ed Curnow, Charlie Curnow, Sam Walsh and Jacob Weitering, was confident they could continue to build momentum.
“Hopefully it instils some belief,” Teague said.
“I said to them all week ‘I believe in you, I believe in the list we have’. I just needed them to go out there and bring their strengths, and we saw that today.
“To (win) from behind shows that if they just stick to the plan, the belief will grow … we think we’re only going to get better from here on in.”