Northampton’s Patrick Cripps teams up with Tourism WA to showcase West is best ahead of State of Origin clash

Northampton’s Patrick Cripps has joined forces with Tourism WA to entice more Victorians to head west ahead of next month’s State of Origin. A new advertisement, which is a partnership between Tourism WA and the AFL, shows Cripps, his wife Monique and daughter Koda exploring Rottnest Island, showcasing WA’s coastal beauty to Victorians planning to make the trip across. His family is seen enjoying staple Rotto activities such as catching the ferry, cycling around the island, swimming at its many bays, devouring seafood and ice-cream, and taking a quokka selfie. “Every experience was new for her (Koda),” Cripps says in the ad. “The sun was out and we were pretty keen to explore what Rottnest has to offer and show her what we love doing.” There are plenty of similarly spectacular attractions along the Coral Coast in the region where the 30-year-old grew up. Cripps spent his junior years running around in a Northampton Rams guernsey, a club which has produced several AFL icons including dual Coleman medallist Josh Kennedy and Harry Taylor. Cripps has been a captain at Carlton since 2019, but will trade the navy blue for WA’s iconic black-and-gold at next month’s State of Origin contest at Optus Stadium. He is a strong contender to take captaincy honours for WA during the long-awaited rivalry clash on February 14. AFL boss Andrew Dillon revealed a conversation with Cripps about his desire to play for his State helped convince him the concept would have player support. “That’s why I want to treat it the right way, because it doesn’t matter who you support in the AFL, it will bring the whole State together,” Cripps told AFL.com recently. “Hopefully a lot of young footy players watch that and remember the game throughout their journey and at some point they want to do what we’re doing on that day. “A lot of people have asked ‘How serious you got to take it?’. I’m going to take it like a normal game, because I just think the pride to represent your State and bring a State together is special.” WA is going into AFL Origin as the underdogs, with Cripps to be joined by the likes of Chad Warner, Charlie Cameron, Tom Barrass, Aaron Naughton, Kysaiah Pickett, Luke Jackson, Mitch Georgiades and Liam Baker. The Victorians’ midfield alone will consist of Marcus Bontempelli, Nick Daicos, Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson, Zak Butters and Max Gawn. Jeremy Cameron, Toby Greene, Sam Darcy and Hugh McCluggage are other big names set to don the Big V. After a 27-year hiatus, the parochial match-up is set to be a sell-out, with just a handful of tickets remaining.