After having a line put through his name by many who believed Patrick Cripps' best footy was behind him, the 2022 Brownlow medallist has said that the win was about proving himself right and not the doubters wrong.
A difficult 2020 and 2021 had many questioning whether the game had gone past Cripps, who relies heavily on his stoppage dominance to influence games for the Blues. The Carlton skipper battled numerous injuries, including a dislocated shoulder in 2020 and a broken back in the early stages of 2021 - injuries he continued to play through as his form declined.
In Carlton's final games of both 2020 and 2021 Cripps finished the game on the bench in a warm-up jacket due to injury. Almost symbolic of his respective seasons.
However, a mountain of work on the pre-season and a new lease on life under coach Michael Voss saw Cripps return to his ferocious best and return to the player that carried the Blues on his back throughout some of their darkest times.
Speaking the morning after his triumph and celebrations that went through the night, the newest member to the elite club of Brownlow winners spoke about why he never doubted he could get back to his best.
"I never doubted myself," Cripps said.
"At the same time it's nice to see the hard work pay off. I always have self-belief but sometimes your confidence can waver a bit but you get your confidence from the work you put in and a bit of the mental prep you put in inside your mind. I went to work on those two things and went from there."
"It just a bit of reward for effort. I knew I had a lot of self belief and it probably wasn't proving people wrong, it was proving myself right again.
"Getting back to the way I was playing in 2018, 2019 and I worked really hard last off-season to give myself in the best chance. I had a really good pre-season and carried that momentum on into the season.
"It's nice to play good footy and it's even better to play in some wins. Since I've been at the club we haven't had that momentum and it's something I feel like we're building now."
The Blues haven't been shy of individual honours in recent years with Sam Walsh winning the 2019 Rising Star, Cripps claiming the AFLPA Award that same year, and Harry McKay (2021) and Charlie Curnow (2022) taking out back-to-back Coleman Medals.
But having not yet played a final, the 27-year-old said while the award was a tremendous honour, it only fuelled the want for team success.
"I'd love to have been sober last night playing in the last game in September, that's what you play for," a weary Cripps admitted.
"I'm envious of Geelong and Sydney but at the same time I have got a lot of respect for both those clubs. You don't get there with luck, you've got to earn it."
Cripps snatched the lead in Round 20 where he polled three votes in a losing side against the Crows and trailed Lachie Neale by 2 votes after the Lion polled one vote in his final game of the year.
A best-on-ground display in Carlton's heartbreaking loss to Collingwood in Round 23 where he had 35 disposals, 27 contested possessions and 12 clearances saw Cripps claim the award.
Mindfulness and mental strength have been a huge asset that Cripps has used in his resurgence throughout this year and he again leant that tool as the vote count neared its thrilling conclusion.
"(I took) a couple of deep breaths," Cripps laughed.
"Nah, I was actually pretty good, it probably got to Round 21 and when I hit the lead I was like 'far out, I'm a chance here' and I knew I finished well.
"Early on I thought if I started well I was a chance, Round 1 I thought I might have got a few more votes than I did so after Round 1 I was like 'I'm done here'. But then I jagged a few that I didn't think I would. Probably around Round 18, 19 I thought I had to be careful here, just got to make sure I'm ready to go if it does happen."
Cripps admitted in his acceptance speech that he was a long-time Brownlow fan and said the kid inside of him from Northampton, Western Australia would have been over the moon with last night's events.
"He'd have been pretty pumped I reckon," Cripps said.
"I felt like I had the young Patrick Cripps in me last night when I won."
