Stonemason, student and AFL aspirant: The rise of ‘heart and soul’ Bulldog Cooper Craig-Peters

Now he’s playing for the club, in the VFL, so eye-catchingly that he’s already being mentioned as a contender for the league’s coveted Fothergill-Round-Mitchell Medal.

Just as new AFL Magpie Lachie Sullivan stacked up big numbers for the Bulldogs in 2022-23, Craig-Peters has become a prolific possession winner this season for Stewart Edge’s team.

Before 2024, according to top VFL commentator Brendon Rhodes, the left-footer had not had more than 20 touches in a game.

This year he’s had at least 20 touches in every game.

In Round 10, he had 36 disposals against Collingwood. It earned him 10 votes in the Coaches’ MVP award and put him third on the leaderboard.

He’s been named in the best players in all 10 of his matches.

Edge calls Craig-Peters, 22, a “heart and soul player’’ and “Bulldogs through and through’’, pointing out that his links with the club go back to when he was in its Next Generation Academy.

The eldest of six children, he grew up in the western suburbs, but his parents moved their family to Ballarat after young Cooper missed out on a sports scholarship at Maribyrnong Secondary College.

He had two bites at it, in football and basketball.

Instead he was accepted to St Patrick’s College in Ballarat.

Redan became his local club and remains so. All his siblings – three brothers and two sisters – also play for the Lions.

Craig-Peters had two seasons with the Greater Western Victoria Rebels, winning 15 games in 2019.

Then it was on to the Dogs, where he had been in the NGA for four years.

“They had a little hub up there (Ballarat), once a month. Dave Newton (Bulldogs official) would come down and visit quite a bit, which was nice,’’ Craig-Peters says.

“We travelled down on the weekends, too.’’

In 2018, Craig-Peters, a Yorta Yorta, Wadi Wadi Ngurai Illum Wurrung, Dja Dja Wurrung and Yara Yara man, was invited to design the club’s Indigenous jumper.

It was a thrill. He is proud of his Indigenous heritage.

“I did the Nallei-Jerring (Koori youth leadership) program when I was younger. That was a great experience,’’ he says.

When Newton asked him to design the Indigenous jumper, “it was just incredible’’.

It came to him quickly, drawing circles, footprints and lines to represent his journey and those of his ancestors.

He was 16 and his work was much praised.

When it came to pulling on the Bulldogs jumper, Craig-Peters needed to show one thing that doesn’t show up on the stats sheet: patience.

He played one game in the 2021 season cut short by Covid.

“I had to bide my time,’’ he says.

He didn’t waste it.

“I just got to work on aspects of my game, because, coming out of the NAB League, the Bulldogs wanted me to expand on my forward craft and my outside midfield play,’’ he says.

“That was the big focus in my early years.’’

******

Cooper Craig-Peters deserves three Liston Trophy votes just for being able to juggle football, work and study.

He is a stonemason and starts every day at 5am and finishes at 3pm.

“Then I do everything from there,’’ he says.

“Everything’’ is studying criminology at Melbourne University and training two days a week with the Bulldogs, as well as doing the “extras’’ he credits with helping his game find another level.

Craig-Peters goes to the club at 4pm and does his gym work and game-review edits before anyone else is through the door.

It’s a heavy load.

But he saw Sullivan, a busy electrician, manage a similar schedule.

Sullivan is an inspiration to the player who has replaced him in Footscray’s midfield this season.

“Definitely. I’d always make sure I was in the same training groups as him, to see how he went about it,’’ Craig-Peters says.

“What he did, I’d try to implement in my lifestyle and my game.’’

What about these piles of possessions that after Round 11 has him in the company of VFL top-liners Callum Brown, Jean-Luc Velissaris and Boyd Woodcock and in the league top 10 for disposals?

He counted 24 contested possessions, 15 clearances and 10 tackles in his 36-disposal bonanza against Collingwood.

“Everything has fallen into place, everything I’ve been working on with ‘Edgey’ (Edge) and ‘Bundy’ (assistant coach Tony Barry) and even with ‘Bevo’ (AFL coach Luke Beveridge),’’ Craig-Peters says.

“I’ve listened to the higher-ups and the older AFL boys on what to work on.

“I’ve put a lot into my rehab and recovery. I’m doing a lot more stretching and more active recovery the day after, going on longer walks or even jogs. That’s been my biggest jump compared to last year, and then also working on exploding out of packs, trying to be as explosive as I can. They’re the two main areas that have taken leaps and bounds for me this year.’’

He has needed to do little with his contested work.

When he was a junior and shorter than most of his opponents, his parents told him he had to be one of the toughest players on the ground if he couldn’t be the tallest.

He’s always been happy to poke his head over the ball.

As a VFL player, he’s added other skills to his courage.

Edge is trying to giving him an edge.

“He’s showed me how to open up my creativeness when I’ve actually got the ball,’’ Craig-Peters says. “He had me improving my kicking and my goalkicking, and also having more of an open mind when I do have the ball, open up my hips so I can either kick left or right foot and try to break a defender by going left or going right.’’

Sullivan has been tracking Craig-Peters’ progress and noting his increasing influence for the ‘Scray, going from role-playing high half-forward to inside midfielder.

He says his former teammate is “tough and really strong in the contest’’.

“He’s pretty driven and dedicated towards getting to the next level,’’ Sullivan says.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets there, to be honest.’’

Ahead of the AFL mid-season rookie draft there was talk the Bulldogs might take their most improved VFL player.

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Instead they went for the pace of South Australian Kelsey Rypstra.

Craig-Peters will keep pushing: “I want to play in the AFL, definitely. And not just be in the system. I want to be a consistent AFL gamer.’’

The stonemason adds: “I’ll keep working on it, asking all the questions. I’ll leave no stone unturned.’’