CARLTON star Patrick Cripps has allayed concerns over his body, reiterating his coach Brendon Bolton's message that he won't be taking a rest any time soon.
A series of ex-greats have demanded the Blues find immediate midfield support for Cripps, with Hall of Fame member Wayne Johnston the latest to voice his concerns around the talented on-baller being "bashed up" by opposition teams on a weekly basis.
Johnston's comments followed those made by Carlton premiership coach David Parkin, who said earlier this month that the Blues "will kill" Cripps if they don't recruit another experienced midfielder to ease the burden on the 23-year-old.
Cripps leads the League for contested possessions this season (17.9 per game), with more than 62 per cent of his total possessions contested. He's also second in the competition for clearances (7.5), 12th for tackles (5.9) and 15th for contested marks (1.4).
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However, fresh from signing a contract extension that will keep him at Ikon Park until at least the end of 2021, Cripps revealed he was feeling as fit as ever despite a bruising year.
"My body's actually feeling really good," Cripps said on Tuesday.
"The coaches and the fitness staff manage my loads pretty well throughout the week. I had a full pre-season this year, so I've allowed my body to do more than it's used to over the past few years.
"I'm not the quickest bloke and I'm not the best runner, so I've got to be hard at it. No matter what game time I play or where I play, I'm going to have a crack at the ball.
"You only get 22 games to play throughout the year. It's six months of competition, so you can get time to recover in the other six months.
"I really love playing footy, so I won't be resting any time soon."
Cripps' signature has provided Carlton's rebuild with a timely boost, with the struggling outfit managing just one win from 17 games so far this season.
The midfielder's new deal follows those signed by talented youngsters Charlie Curnow and Zac Fisher this season, as well as a two-year extension for captain Marc Murphy.
With one year still remaining on his current deal before he re-signed, Cripps said he never considered the possibility of leaving, or a return home to his native Western Australia.
"We made it pretty clear early on that I wanted to stay at Carlton," Cripps said.
"I didn't really want to shift my attentions anywhere else, so we knocked that on the head pretty early. I still had a year to go, but I'm glad the deal got done before next year."
Cripps led Carlton as its stand-in skipper in the absence of the injured Murphy earlier this season, with many suggesting the Blues should hand the captaincy to the youngster on a full-time basis as early as next year.
However, despite enjoying the "great experience", Cripps praised the leadership of Murphy and said nothing would change regardless of who takes the captaincy next season.
"It's a great honour to lead the boys out on game day," Cripps said.
"It's something that, once you get exposed to it, you learn from it. But the biggest learning for me was that nothing really changes.
"Murph's led this club through a pretty tough time and he's done a really good job. He was someone I bounced a few ideas off and he's been a good mentor. I couldn't speak higher enough of Murph as a captain."
