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Carlton’s decision to roll the dice and appeal the Tribunal’s two-match ban for Patrick Cripps has paid off remarkably, with the Blues captain winning the 2022 Brownlow Medal.
It took until the final vote of the final game for Cripps to get across the line and win the AFL’s most prestigious award, by a single vote from Brisbane’s Lachie Neale.
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But Cripps’ ability to play in that final Round 23 loss to Collingwood – where he polled three votes – came down to a massive gamble by the Blues weeks earlier.
Fans were quick to note Cripps’ Brownlow success was purely down to his lawyer’s efforts to get his suspension overturned.
While being cleared kept Cripps in Brownlow Medal contention, he also polled a crucial three votes in the final round to snatch the win.
The midfielder had been slapped with a two-match ban for his big bump that left Brisbane’s Callum Ah Chee concussed in Round 21.
The Tribunal had upheld the Match Review’s ban, arguing the Blues gun had other options to how he contested the footy, rather than bump Ah Chee.
Cripps could and should have contested the ball differently and in a way that did not present such a high and serious risk of a head injury to his fellow players,” Tribunal chairperson Jeff Gleeson said at the time.
But the Blues refused to accept the verdict and took the bold step of going to the AFL Appeals Board.
It took a marathon four and half-hour hearing before Cripps was cleared, in a move that stunned AFL commentators including David King and Kane Cornes.
“It contradicts everything that we’ve been talking about for the last three to four years about protecting the head,” King had said on SEN.
“This, in my opinion, is not as a line ball as what others think.
“I was staggered. (AFL counsel Nicholas Pane) said he was adamant a player could contest the ball whilst watching with eyes on the ball and still maintain the action of bumping an opponent – I think they’re two different things. You’re either contesting the ball or you’re bracing or bumping. They’re not the same. It’s very, very rare that you can contest for the ball and put a bump on at the same time because your arms tell you what you’re doing – are you bracing, are you ready for contact, or are you reaching for the ball?
“I think he got it wrong, I think Nicholas Pane got it wrong and he was beaten by the opposing case.”
Richmond’s Jack Riewoldt warned Cripps’ case could “open a can of worms”.
But ultimately, it was that decision to fight every avenue to have Cripps play that ended with the skipper taking home the ‘Charlie’ in Sunday night’s medal count.
While a controversial victory, Cripps claimed the medal with 29 votes, ahead of Neale (28) and Gold Coast’s Touk Miller (27).
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