Back in November 2010, Cripps had just finished his final season of junior football, turning heads with his performances for East Fremantle and with Western Australia in the NAB AFL Under 18s championships.
He was considered a certainty to be drafted, with experts generally considering him a mid-late first round selection.
But after feeling dehydrated and losing 10kg in a short period of time, Cripps was taken to hospital only to be diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
News of Cripps' condition emerged days after St Kilda took him with its first selection at the draft and he admitted he didn't know how it would affect him even though he had already witnessed it up close.
"I was worried. I didn't really know what was going to happen. My dad has got type 1 diabetes as well and he has helped me out a lot. He's told me that's not going to stop me from doing anything," he said.
"I got the hang of it pretty quickly. I watched my dad have the needles four times a day when I was growing up so I knew what I had to do, I just had to toughen up and do it."
Like his father, Cripps has insulin injections four times a day to keep his blood sugar levels at an acceptable level. He says he has to be conscious of what food he can and can't eat and how much of it he can have.
While his condition is yet to affect him during a match, he says there are times on the training track where he has felt it creep up.
"Not so in a game, probably more at training. In the pre-season you have some long days, and if it drops too low I have to sit down a bit and get a bit of sugar into me and let the coaches know what I'm dealing with," he said.
After managing four senior games last year, the unusual early hurdles in Cripps' AFL career continued when a nagging calf injury was found to be compartment syndrome, forcing him to miss the last four months of the season.
"The skin around the calf muscles wouldn't let my muscles expand. Whenever I ran, the muscles tightened up so the blood stopped pumping down to my feet and calves," he said.
"I got real bad cramps and pretty much couldn't run after five minutes. That stopped my season pretty early last year."
The Saints told Cripps to take some time and head back to his family home in WA.
After undergoing a tailored rehabilitation program and taking on a ramped up pre-season, Cripps has played seven of the Saints' nine games so far this year with no problems to report.
"It's all good now. I got the strength back this pre-season. I got the run back into them so they don't cramp up early in the season," he said.
The Saints carefully managed the workload on Cripps' developing body, naming him as their substitute in six of his 11 career games so far.
He admits football's newest role has taken some adjusting to.
"It's a hard one. You've just got to sit on the bench and try to stay in the game by making sure you get up and go for a run every now and again," he said.
"You've got to try and have an impact when you come on, and because you've got fresh legs you try and run a bit harder than other players."
Luke Holmesby covers St Kilda news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter - @AFL_Luke
