Where Patrick Cripps sees Carlton’s improvement coming from in 2025

Carlton captain Patrick Cripps expects improvement to come from within this season.

While the Blues lost a bit of depth this off-season with all of Matt Kennedy, Jack Martin, Jack Carroll and Matt Owies moving to new clubs, Cripps thinks that could allow some of the club’s younger players to thrive.

Coming off a year that promised a lot before petering out in an eighth-placed finish, Cripps thinks that the Blues will be stronger in 2025 thanks to improvement from the club’s 21-to-25-year-olds including Elijah Hollands, Jaxon Binns, Jesse Motlop, Elijah Hollands and Brodie Kemp among others.

He also hopes that a healthier injury list equates to the side gelling more on game day with increased continuity in the best 23.

“There are a couple of factors,” Cripps told SEN Breakfast in regards to how he sees the side improving.

“It’s part of our journey, although it didn't end the way we wanted it to (in 2024), I feel like we still made progress as a group.

“While the way it ended was disappointing and probably left a lot of us frustrated, you still take the learnings from it.

“But I think those middle-tier guys in the 21 to sort of 25 age bracket, they should start to jump, that's usually where you get a lot of growth.

“I feel like otherwise just probably consistency and cohesion with the team could help, we had a lot of ins and outs last year, so I see that as a big factor that will help us jump to the next level.”

As well as internal improvement from the list, Cripps thinks that the Blues are in a good position to contend due to the club’s off-field stability with coach Michael Voss (since 2022), President Luke Sayers (since 2021) and CEO Brian Cook (since 2021) all established in their roles.

“From a total club point of view, we've had stability now for a good three to four years,” Cripps said.

“We feel like every year we're making progressions on what we've done the year before.

“Although we didn't finish as high last year as we did in 2023, I still feel like we've progressed as a group.

“Most of the clubs are even, so you can't really say we're going to jump and be the best team in it, but that's always the goal.

“We feel like we're making progressions, and we feel like we're more advanced than we were the year before.”

Carlton opens their 2025 campaign with a Round 1 clash against traditional rivals Richmond at the MCG on Thursday, March 13.