Footy star Patrick Cripps announces amazing baby news as Carlton captain welcomes first child with wife Monique

Patrick Cripps is a father after welcoming his first child with wife Monique on Thursday.

Carlton captain Cripps, 29, took to Instagram to share the exciting news, posting adorable photos of baby daughter Koda Sophie Cripps and her mother to the social media platform.

‘Welcome to the world little Koda Sophie Cripps,’ the pair wrote in a joint post.

He added ‘3 votes — Monfon’ alongside two love heart emojis. 

The couple’s new arrival is well-timed, with Cripps set to fly out to Adelaide for Gather Round this weekend. 

The Blues skipper says he would have returned to Melbourne for the birth if Koda had arrived over the weekend. 

‘It’s exciting, it’s our first so it’s all about to change for us,’ he told Fox Footy.

‘I’m going to travel a bit later with the team and we fly back that night. We’re all prepared, you can be prepared as you want but you never know what will happen.’

Meanwhile, Monique told News Corp before the birth that she felt well after a tricky start to her pregnancy. 

‘I feel good now, I was really sick for the first half,’ she said.

‘I’m due early April – we’ll make sure we don’t (miss a game) unless I go early.

‘It’s exciting now that I feel good.

‘(Patrick’s) excited and he’s getting nervous but it’s a good time of year.

‘There’ll be a little girl gang at the club, it’s very cute. All of them are sassy queens.’

Cripps, who won the 2022 Brownlow Medal, married Monique in December of that year in Western Australia. 

Last year, he led the Blues to their first preliminary final win in 23 years and has made a flying start to the new campaign, with Michael Voss’s side unbeaten in three games.