Patrick Cripps is the 2022 AFL Brownlow Medallist – and he has instantly become one of the most controversial winners in the award’s history.
The Carlton captain polled 29 votes to finish one ahead of Brisbane star and 2020 winner Lachie Neale, polling three votes in the Blues’ heartbreaking Round 23 loss to Collingwood to take the lead with the last votes read on the night.
However, fans were quick to take to social media to question Cripps’ win, having famously escaped a two-week suspension for a bump that left another Lion in Callum Ah Chee concussed in Round 21, that would have seen him miss the Magpies match – and render him ineligible for the award.
Cripps’ ban overturn saw the Blues take the case to the AFL Appeals Board after the Tribunal had upheld the sanction, with the board determining that Cripps’ action in contesting the ball against Ah Chee had been reasonable under the circumstances.
>> 2022 Brownlow Medal: Every vote, final leaderboard
Unsurprisingly, the public outcry that followed that announcement six weeks ago was repeated as Cripps claimed his first Brownlow Medal, which included an outpouring of sympathy for Neale, who would have claimed the gong if not for the overturn.
Cripps’ win was quick to have an ‘asterisk’ affixed to it by many – that became part of footy vernacular in 2020, when fans claimed the same about Richmond’s premiership win due to the unprecedented impact on the season wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, it wasn’t all outrage.
In the eyes of many, the biggest winner of the night was Blues legal counsel Christopher Townshend QC, a member of the club’s board of directors and the architect of Cripps’ successful appeal.
And praise came thick and fast – only some of it sarcastic.
Of course, conspiracy theories also came out in full force, as they do with even the most minute of Brownlow controversies.
Chief among the claims were that the AFL deliberately allowed Cripps to escape sanction for the Ah Chee bump in order to not leave him ineligible, knowing he was a chance to win.
That’s despite him a) being behind Neale at the conclusion of Round 23, making it impossible for him to win if the suspension had been upheld; and b) that the AFL voiced its displeasure in no uncertain terms with its Appeals Board ruling at the time.
Fans were also quick to express sympathy for former North Melbourne ruckman Corey McKernan and Western Bulldogs champion Chris Grant, the only two previous tally-leaders ineligible to win the Brownlow due to suspension.
McKernan tied with James Hird and Michael Voss – Cripps’ coach – in 1996, while Grant ‘won’ outright just a year later, only for neither to head home with ‘Charlie’.
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The footy world has since made regular pleas for the league to change the Brownlow’s suspension criteria – the award is given to the AFL’s ‘fairest and best’ player, with the ‘fairest’ component determined by suspensions – and the Cripps controversy made another surge of support for the pair inevitable.
Adding to the controversy was the harrowing interview with rugby league champion Mario Fenech, documenting his battle with CTE and early-onset dementia after repeated head knocks in his playing days, that Channel 7 broadcast immediately following the Brownlow.
The irony of Cripps’ win after leaving Ah Chee concussed, over which he missed the next two rounds, wasn’t missed.
Of course, not everyone was up in arms over Cripps’ suspension – with many praising a ‘worthy winner’, praising his post-Brownlow interview in which he documented his work to overcome a stutter when speaking to the media, and his efforts in previous seasons where he single-handedly dragged a struggling Blues team in his wake.
While others were content to gleefully make fun of Carlton for having missed the finals despite the Brownlow Medallist – plus Coleman Medal winner Charlie Curnow -on the books.
Doctor Rotcod
Roar Rookie
Diesel-747. We will not.. You may,that is your prerogative. And do not speak for me, thanks.
Doctor Rotcod
Roar Rookie
We're not all immoral cheats of salary caps.
RT
Roar Rookie
That's just rubbish. He admitted taking a banned substance, that's why he copped all that booing in WA the same week. Danks also slipped up and admitted giving a banned substance, which he only tried to retract when the journalist pointed it out. That's why they were suspended. Watson returned the Brownlow at the 11th hour when the AFL were going to take it from him. If they weren't, why did they award it to someone else? I feel sorry for the Essendon players They were duped by their own club who I am sure didn't set out to cheat, but made a grave mistake. But Mitchell and Cotchin were also duped into not receiving the glory of the Brownlow on the night. I have long suspected the real reason Essendon didn't accept the original 6 week offer from ASADA like the NRL did because Watson would lose his Brownlow. Big mistake.
Doctor Rotcod
Roar Rookie
Any side? You can't paint every side Visy blue.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Watson was never found guilty of that. He relinquished his medal of his own volition because of all the disquiet about it. That's integrity. I'm expecting Cripps to do the same.
RT
Roar Rookie
So Lauchie Neale should have another Brownlow because Cripps should have been suspended, but Watson should have kept his Brownlow despite being found guilty of using a banned substance? Turn it up.
Pumping Dougie
Roar Guru
I think the controversy between Carlton’s success in appealing Cripps’ suspension and the query on whether Cripps is therefore a worthy Brownlow Medallist (on the basis he should have been ineligible) are two different things. Cripps should not have been eligible to play the last two weeks, but Carlton still lost those games so who cares. I guess he wouldn’t have polled votes in those games and therefore wouldn’t have won the medal, but Cripps is absolutely a worthy Brownlow Medalist. He had a couple of ordinary years in 2020 & 2021, probably due to carrying injuries, but he showed this year what a champion he is. Good on him.
Pumping Dougie
Roar Guru
LOL :laughing:
Chanon
Roar Rookie
He gloated about getting Grant suspended to me that’s a criminal offence. :boxing:
PeteB
Roar Rookie
The only decent thing Collins did was get rid of big Jack. But by then it was far too late :angry:
Chanon
Roar Rookie
:angry:
PeteB
Roar Rookie
Haha some Carlton influence again :laughing:
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
He might have had his eyes on the ball, but he also left the ground & had the end his shoulder firmly planted on Ah Chee's chin which resulted in him missing the next two games under concussion protocols. I hope you would recognise that point of difference?
.kraM
Roar Rookie
You’re so dense
Chanon
Roar Rookie
:boxing: That back pocket pri.K Ian Collins the fu.King homewrecker :boxing:
Birdman
Roar Rookie
I totally agree, RT.
AdamDilligafThompson
Roar Rookie
100% man all over a technicality was just wrong.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
I suspect you are trying to convince yourself. Immoral appeal. No values. No integrity. The medal is as valid as Trent Cotchin's and Sam Mitchell's.
RT
Roar Rookie
No asterisk in 2012.
Al
Guest
Your club can also appeal tribunal decisions, why are you using a dump on Carlton for exercising their right to appeal?