Calrton captain Patrick Cripps received some 'special' messages from his idols Ben Cousins and Chris Judd after claiming the 2022 Brownlow Medal on Sunday night.
The Blues onballer took out the award in one of the tightest counts in recent memory, with the race coming down to the final vote of the final round.
Cripps defeated strong favourite Lachie Neale and the top tip from the AFL Brownlow predictor Touk Miller to take out the award.
After claiming 'Charlie', Cripps told the crowd how he would look up to his role models in Judd and Cousins from a young age as a West Coast fan, with the now-Blues superstar going on to reveal some special messages he received later into the night.
"My idols growing up were Ben Cousins and Chris Judd and I got a message from the both of them, which was pretty special," he told Triple M's Dead Set Legends
"I was at the Brownlow last year in Perth, there was a few hundred people there and in my eyes he (Cousins) was still the biggest name.
"As a fan it's great to see him going well, he's a great person and was a great footballer to watch for all of us young kids groing up in WA."
Cripps admitted he has not yet had any sleep, with a big morning of interviews yet to come.
"Yeah it's going to be a long morning, I'm looking forward to 11:00am so that I can head back to Crown and grab some sleep, so far though the longer the morning has gone on, the better I feel!
"But it's all worth it after a night like that, you have to take everything on board and just embrace it all."
Patrick Cripps becomes the sixth Carlton player to win a Brownlow Medal, following in the likes of Bert Deacon, John James, Gordon Collis, Greg Williams and Judd.
