Cripps back in the Brownlow hunt? Russell says Blues primed for Grand Final tilt

Dwayne Russell believes Patrick Cripps is back among the leading fancies for this year’s Brownlow Medal, predicting the Carlton captain to rack up another three votes from Thursday night’s win over Port Adelaide.

In what eventuated to be a 36-point win, Cripps helped the Blues kick eight goals to three in the final term to break their hoodoo against the Power at home.

Cripps kicked the opening two goals of the last quarter and finished the game with 11 score involvements and six inside 50s.

Speaking post-game to Channel 7, the 2022 Brownlow Medallist spoke to his side’s mindset late in the contest.

“We talked about playing with courage, taking the game on,” Cripps said.

“Early on in the year once we got up by a few goals we probably played a bit safe. Tonight we played aggressive and that’s what kept the scoreboard ticking over.

“It’s always nice to kick a snag, two in a couple of minutes definitely gets the adrenaline going.”

Russell believes Cripps is building nicely into season 2024 after also collecting best-afield honours in the Round 11 win over Gold Coast.

“I presume Patrick Cripps is best on ground and gets another three Brownlow votes. Isaac Heeney, Nick Daicos, Patrick Cripps…. The race for the Brownlow is heating up and Cripps’ three-vote performance last night was superb,” Russell said on SEN.

“It’s not kicks, marks and handballs necessarily. I love the fact the umpires do the 3-2-1, because they would have a gutfeel for the fact Patrick Cripps turned that game in a blink and that’s the beauty of actually using your eye for Brownlow votes instead of going too deep into the data.”

Cripps is around $7.50 for this year's Brownlow Medal with most bookmakers.

As for Carlton’s prospects in 2024, Michael Voss has his side trending the right way.

The Blues are locked into the top eight for another week and could finish the weekend as high as 4th should results go their way. With the easiest draw of the competition to come and after last year’s strong finish to the year, optimism is high for what Carlton can achieve in 2024.

“It would be an easy throwaway line to say anything less than a Grand Final for Carlton would be a disappointment… but I won’t say that because you can finish 3rd, lose a thrilling prelim like Collingwood did a couple of years ago and then come back and win the flag next year,” Russell continued.

“I think Carlton are Grand Final bound, but it’s such an even season.”

A huge crowd is expected for Carlton’s next game when the Blues take on Essendon at the MCG on Sunday night heading into the King’s Birthday weekend.