FOR the first time in its 154-year history, the Carlton Football Club has appointed joint captains with the succession of Sam Docherty and Patrick Cripps into the esteemed positions.

Unveiled as the Blues’ new leaders at the John Nicholls Medal at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre this evening, outgoing skipper Marc Murphy officially handed over the captaincy duties to Docherty and Cripps in front of more than 1,000 members and supporters.

Leadership. Legacy. Loyalty.



Thank you for your six seasons as our skipper, Murph.#JNM2018 pic.twitter.com/OeibgkPTOs — Carlton FC (@CarltonFC) October 5, 2018

Two of the competition’s most exciting talents, Docherty and Cripps will now lead the Blues into their newest era under senior coach Brendon Bolton.

With the appointment of the pair into the roles, Docherty and Cripps now join a revered group of champion Carlton captains including Murphy, Chris Judd, Anthony Koutoufides, Craig Bradley and Stephen Kernahan.

A Blues supporter from birth, Docherty made an immediate impact at Carlton since arriving from the Brisbane Lions in 2013. A key cog in the Blues’ backline, the 24-year-old won his first John Nicholls Medal in 2016 and was runner-up to Murphy in 2017. In the same year, he became Carlton’s first All-Australian selection in six years before being elevated to the position of Vice-President of the AFL Players’ Association at the start of 2018.

The Gippsland product said it was a lifelong dream to be named co-captain of the Club he grew up supporting.

“It’s a big club with such a rich history, with some legends who have been captains of the Club themselves and we’re lucky enough to now join our names to that list of leaders, which is an incredible privilege,” Docherty said.

“Clearly the joint captaincy is a new direction for the Club, but both ‘Crippa’ and I have sat down and had really honest chats about how we’re going to take this group forward together. Despite our various differences in personality and approaches to leadership, we complement each other well and the main thing for us is our common goal to take this club back to sustained success.

“We will be also aided by the wealth of knowledge ‘Murph’ has – he’s been our leader in some pretty tough times for our footy club and this year again led so strongly on game day and during the week, so he’ll be someone we bounce ideas off and use as a resource throughout the year which we will be indebted to him for.

“I want to thank the football club for this immense opportunity. We’re ready for the challenge and ready to lead this club back to where it should be.”

Ready to do our club, our supporters and our heartland proud.#BoundByBlue pic.twitter.com/C7AP1eaT74 — Carlton FC (@CarltonFC) October 7, 2018

Capping off a career-best season after he earned his first All-Australian selection and placed fourth overall in the Brownlow Medal count, in 2015 Cripps became the Blues’ youngest John Nicholls Medallist in 56 years since Nicholls himself won the first of his five medals in 1959.

The star midfielder and contested beast has played 81 senior games after being drafted from Northampton, and this year signed on for a further three years at Carlton, tying him to Ikon Park until at least the end of 2021.

The 23-year-old said he was truly humbled to be appointed joint captain of the Carlton Football Club.

“This honour is incredibly special. Playing footy at the highest level for one of the biggest clubs in the competition is huge in itself, but when you think about being named captain of the Club, it’s probably something you could never really dream of. It’s surreal but a huge honour,” Cripps said.

“I try and lead by my actions, and I really believe that leadership is something you can’t master, but you always try to improve. So the biggest lesson I learnt this year in that stand-in role was to lead by being true to yourself.

“When I was standing in for Murph earlier this year as captain, he was fantastic in that he reminded me to just stay true to yourself. He’s been such a mentor for us and been great with advice. Next year, he will continue to have a strong leadership presence within the group and he will be someone both ‘Doc’ and I continue to use as a mentor and confidant.

“I’m very thankful for the opportunity to lead this proud club alongside Doc. Personally, we are close mates, and we have a lot of respect for each other so I’m confident it will be a natural transition for us both.”

Outgoing captain Marc Murphy said he felt the time was right to hand over the role.

“Since ‘Bolts’ arrived at the Club, we have focused really heavily on cultivating leadership amongst our group and we have done a huge amount of work investing in our younger players,” Murphy said.

“It was pretty strongly felt across the board that both Doc and Crippa were the perfect pair to take this club into the future, with their leadership differences complementing each other strongly.

“It has been a true privilege to lead the Carlton Football Club for the past six years. Personally, with a young family now, the timing felt right to hand the role over to the boys and ultimately the decision was about taking our club into the future.

“We had a number of discussions internally, and all parties felt both ‘Doc’ and ‘Crippa’ were the natural selections for the role and I am confident they are armed with the tools to do a terrific job in the role.

“Collectively, we’re excited about the next phase we’re heading as we strive towards creating an environment for sustained success.”

Senior coach Brendon Bolton said the pair demonstrated outstanding characteristics that made them the standout candidates for the captaincy posts.

“When Marc and I sat down towards the end of the season, he let me know he felt the timing was right to step away from the role for the next generation. For some time, Murph had wanted to build leadership density across the group to smoothly transition into the next appointment – and with that, came an extensive process internally to identify the next captain of the Carlton Football Club,” Bolton said.

“Quite unanimously, it was determined that both Sam and Patrick would each bring a unique lens and purpose to the role and as such, we felt it right to make the dual appointment. It’s a new direction we’re heading in with the structure, but one I believe will strongly benefit our young playing group in years to come.

“I’d also like to congratulate Marc on his leadership tenure as captain for the past six years; particularly in some difficult times for the Club since he took over the reins from Chris Judd in 2013. What people may not have seen was his contribution off-field and his pure investment in the Club’s younger players recently – the likes of Zac Fisher, Paddy Dow, Sam Petrevski-Seton, Cameron Polson and the growth of those players are all part of Murph’s legacy and will continue for many years to come.

“This football club is about shared experiences and our new era will undoubtedly require all Carlton people far and wide to contribute to what we are setting out to achieve. Our supporters should be very excited about our Club’s future – we know we are, and we look forward to getting stuck into our upcoming pre-season for the 2019 campaign.”

Docherty and Cripps become Carlton’s 48th and 49th captains respectively.

To celebrate the announcement of Carlton's 2019 captains, we’re offering you the chance to win a signed jumper by Patrick Cripps and Sam Docherty. Click here for your chance to win.