ANDREW Walker has urged Carlton's youngsters to follow the lead of Patrick Cripps this off-season, with the second-year midfielder's dedication last summer behind his eye-catching rise.

Cripps has stepped into the void left by the mid-season retirement of Chris Judd with ease, with his strength and courage at the coal face among his many positive traits.

Walker said the 20-year-old's favouritism for the NAB AFL Rising Star award came on the back of his committed work over the summer.

"There was no doubt he was going to have a good year with the amount of work he put in during the off-season, the amount of questions he was asking of a lot of the senior players," Walker told AFL.com.au.

"He was worried he was going to go away at the end of the year and not be able to come back in the shape they wanted him to.

"He wanted to make sure he gave himself every opportunity to play AFL footy and he spoke to me about his diet.

"He worked on his hip strength and made sure he did a lot of work with the balls, with people hanging on to him and manoeuvring around.

"Our young players can have a look at the way Crippsy's gone about it and go away at the end of this year, and understand how important it is with your 10 weeks off, speak to him and have a look at what program he put in place for last year."

Cripps was best on ground in the Blues' 23-point win over Melbourne on Sunday despite being heavily tagged by experienced Demon Bernie Vince.

It saw him rocket to favouritism for this year's Rising Star, with interim Carlton coach John Barker stating afterwards he was "absolutely" this year's winner.

With Judd forced into retirement after a season-ending knee injury in round 10, Cripps has been relied upon to stand up as a key inside midfielder.

"I know for a fact he was working closely with Chris and you watch him now and there are a lot of similarities," Walker said.

"Every time he gets the ball his arms go straight up so no one can take the ball off him.

"There are certain techniques and things that he learned off Juddy you can just see and they're just coming out of him now."

Cripps leads the Blues for contested possessions –he's ranked ninth overall in the competition – and clearances from Andrew Carrazzo and Marc Murphy.

With Murphy to miss the last two games after shoulder surgery, the midfield responsibility will increase even more on the youngster against Greater Western Sydney and Hawthorn.

But it's a challenge Walker believes he's up for. 

"He's extremely important to us now, he's such a strong body and certainly fills that spot of Juddy," he said.

"He's stepped up to the table since Chris has gone and now with Murphy down, the load is going to be put on his shoulders a lot more now, and we need someone else to step up with him."