One of West Coast's last remaining 2018 premiership heroes is facing a sad end to his career after going down with a potentially serious knee injury in the WAFL.
Jamie Cripps, 34, was hurt in the final quarter of the Eagles' heavy 61-point defeat to South Fremantle on Saturday. He tumbled to the turf after his left leg planted in the ground and appeared to hyperextend his knee.
While players can escape without ligament damage following hyperextensions, Cripps was clearly in agony and remained devastated after the game. He left the venue on crutches and will undergo scans to confirm the extent of his injury.
Teammates rally around Cripps
West Coast youngster Lucca Grego, who lived with Cripps when he first joined the club, said it was hard to watch such a beloved group member go down in agony. "Crippa's well loved around the group and everyone loves him," Grego told The West Australian. "He's an uncle figure and a father figure for most of the boys, especially for me who lived with him for my first three weeks. No idea what the injury is, but all we can do is get our arms around him and make sure we support him as much as we can."
Contract and form struggles
Cripps staved off retirement last year to sign a new one-year contract for 2026. But he and Tom Cole, two of just four players left from the Eagles' most recent premiership alongside Liam Duggan and Elliot Yeo, have been dropped to the WAFL.
"I've said this right from the start, we need our mature players playing well. We need their experience, we need them to help our young players and those two guys are exactly that," West Coast coach Andrew McQualter said. "We've been consistent with picking players on form and that won't change. We've spoken to Crippa really clearly about what he's working on in his game at WAFL level and Coley the same, he's an important player for our system and he deserved his opportunity to come back into the AFL team."
