Cripps urges on maturing Blues

AFL:

Carlton co-captain Patrick Cripps has called on the Blues to deliver on their potential, but played down any perceived advantage of spending the first month of the AFL season restart in Victoria.

The Blues haven’t played finals since 2013, before the drafting of Cripps, or finished higher than 16th in the past three years. But the 25-year-old midfielder, who has won just 24 of the 102 AFL games he has played, says given Carlton’s list has matured it is time to turn words into actions.

“I want to play finals footy ... I’ve been at the club for six years,” he said yesterday.

“A lot of us have been through some really tough losses, but we’ve really started to grow as a group and it’s been a couple of years now where we’ve solidified a group that’s taking us forward.

“A lot of these younger guys are now the age – between 23 to 26 years – where your performance really starts to spike.

“So we know actions do the talking but we’re excited to have a crack at it.”

The Blues will resume their season with four consecutive games in Victoria, playing Melbourne at Marvel Stadium, Geelong at GMHBA Stadium then Essendon and St Kilda at the MCG, with seven-day breaks between each.

“We’ve got a lot of seven-day breaks, there’s a lot of consistency with the actual training weeks,” Cripps said. “It’s the same thing, you adapt to what you’re given.

“I don’t think there’s any benefit (to less early travel). Good teams, no matter where they go, what time, they just get the job done.”

Anna Harrington