Player Watch #22 Nick Blakey: 2024 All Australian

[Kennedy Parker]

Nick Blakey
Nick Blakey

22

Nick Blakey

Age

24

Ht

196cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.9

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

2.9

3star

M

2.3

2star

T

2.4

4star

MG

189.1

3star

D

8.1

2star

K

6.3

3star

HB

1.9

1star

M

2.1

2star

T

2.6

4star

MG

189.1

3star

D

7.2

2star

K

5.2

2star

HB

2.0

2star

M

1.2

2star

T

1.2

3star

is a prodigious talent with a laser-sharp left boot, an outstanding overhead ability and searing pace. The QBE Sydney Swans Academy product booted 21 goals in 19 games in a brilliant debut season en route to winning the club’s 2019 Rising Star award, and while he added a lively element to the forward line last year, he’s likely to play on a wing or in the midfield in 2020. Nick is the son of former Fitzroy and North Melbourne champion John Blakey, who’s had a variety of roles on the Swans’ coaching panel since 2006.

Nick Blakey

22

Nick Blakey

Age

24

Ht

196cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.9

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

2.9

3star

M

2.3

2star

T

2.4

4star

MG

189.1

3star

D

8.1

2star

K

6.3

3star

HB

1.9

1star

M

2.1

2star

T

2.6

4star

MG

189.1

3star

D

7.2

2star

K

5.2

2star

HB

2.0

2star

M

1.2

2star

T

1.2

3star

DOB: 27 February 2000
DEBUT: 2019
DRAFT: #10, 2018 National Draft
RECRUITED FROM: University Of NSW-Eastern Suburbs (NSW)

Nick Blakey | AFL

Follow Nick Blakey's progress through AFL

www.sydneyswans.com.au

 

[mcs095]

Was almost a great game. His intercept game was strong and that's what he usually builds his games on.

But **** me he just couldn't do anything else right today. Couldn't hit targets, couldn't stick tackles. I'll give him some credit and say I don't think it was his effort that was lacking, but his composure and resilience absolutely was.

Of course he was hardly alone there.

That missed tackle in the 3rd Q (?) made me cry inside. Dreadful tackling technique and not even close. Bloke should have been buried into the f****** turf. Just summed up our day really.

 

[The King!]

It IS ok to party.

And it's ok to bounce back straight away, and to get on with living. It's called resilience. The kind that gets these guys to that level. They can brush off the set backs and keep going, keep enjoying life. I know if I got smashed like that in a GF, I'd want to go get hammered and release some tension, disappointment.

If you don't want to see it, not need to follow their social media really.

Or you know realise you are a public player and just don't post the stupid pic, show some sort of judgement, if you can't show any judgement by foot on field at least think twice about posting. Rightly or wrongly you know what will happen.

Or make the social media profile private, but then you can't plug shit and make money

 

[The King!]

Perhaps we have made it all too easy for Nick , because he is flashy etc but we picked him for games when he didn't perform early, he got contract extensions early, has a long deal, get his promotions, goes to the beach , gets to be the lizard and it's all just very casual and fun for him.

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

Perhaps we have made it all too easy for Nick , because he is flashy etc but we picked him for games when he didn't perform early, he got contract extensions early, has a long deal, get his promotions, goes to the beach , gets to be the lizard and it's all just very casual and fun for him.

That does sound like a good life

 

[The King!]

That does sound like a good life

He is a fan favourite and club favourite and rightly so.

But sometimes I think if you looked at his total career games which are now at what 128, a surprisingly high amount of them are below average.

 

[KingV23]

gets to be the lizard

 

[ShireSwan]

It's okay as you say to get on with living.

But the tone deafness of that post is pretty bad to be honest. I don't follow many current players on social media (mainly because most of them are boring as f*** anyway - they are just normal people off the park), but I can fully understand why people were livid to see that, especially with the song/caption on it.

Fair enough. I just think there are too many hysterical posts on BF after this loss, and I probably over reacted to this issue myself.

 

[mcs095]

Fair enough. I just think there are too many hysterical posts on BF after this loss, and I probably over reacted to this issue myself.

That's human nature for you. But equally - if there is ever probably a time for hysterical posts, it is after embarrassing ourselves for the second time in three years on the biggest stage in the game!

 

[dosser]

He is young. That same pic with the caption "We'll be back" instead of what it says, would be applauded by everyone. The problem was not the partying, but the song title. Unfortunate, but he should learn from this. He needs to elevate his maturity level to something approximating his income level, which is a common factor among young sportsmen, so I don't hold it against him.

 

[The King!]

I actually don't care about the pic itself, I am just surprised he is that stupid, you know how it's going to be viewed by enough people. So the judgement to bother posting it was what annoyed me if that makes sense

 

[dosser]

I actually don't care about the pic itself, I am just surprised he is that stupid, you know how it's going to be viewed by enough people. So the judgement to bother posting it was what annoyed me if that makes sense

H was probably not completely sober when he posted it. Same as 95% of the population.

 

[Jewelsbon]

H was probably not completely sober when he posted it. Same as 95% of the population.

Maybe someone should have taken their phones for the evening so this sort of shit didn't happen

 

[dosser]

Maybe someone should have taken their phones for the evening so this sort of shit didn't happen

You would think so, but they are kids and it probably was a private party

 

[Nuggetz]

Thought it was more sarcasm tbh

 

[The King!]

When you watch the replay , far out so soft in this game.

If I only watched the granny I would ship the prick off

 

[caesar88]

When you watch the replay , far out so soft in this game.

If I only watched the granny I would ship the prick off

If he, Warner & Gulden are in our top five players, then we are further from a flag than we even realise. The disparity between their best and worst is still gigantic.

 

[KingV23]

As soon as he stopped mid game to complain to the umpire and Brisbane kicked that goal, I knew we were in for a long day. That still annoys me lol

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

When you watch the replay , far out so soft in this game.

If I only watched the granny I would ship the prick off

Thats sorta the problem with the 90% of our list we dont make the GF without him.

I think its much easier to TRY and fix/review wtf is going on during GF week and replace accordingly.

 

[Millky95]

As soon as he stopped mid game to complain to the umpire and Brisbane kicked that goal, I knew we were in for a long day. That still annoys me lol

We have played for frees (there or otherwise) a lot all year

 

[caesar88]

As soon as he stopped mid game to complain to the umpire and Brisbane kicked that goal, I knew we were in for a long day. That still annoys me lol

Wait are you talking about when he lowered his head as if to win the high free, then hammed it up how sore his head was while the Brisbane players just got on with it and kicked the goal?

If so, I remember physically cringing watching that and thinking, "Well done Nick. All of Australia is going to be laughing at you right now."

But emblematic of our team as a whole really. A lot of players interested in faux toughness but are then shellshocked when required to show actual genuine hardness when the game demands it.

 

[TheMase]

Wait are you talking about when he lowered his head as if to win the high free, then hammed it up how sore his head was while the Brisbane players just got on with it and kicked the goal?

If so, I remember physically cringing watching that and thinking, "Well done Nick. All of Australia is going to be laughing at you right now."

But emblematic of our team as a whole really. A lot of players interested in faux toughness but are then shellshocked when required to show actual genuine hardness when the game demands it.

Physically cringing?

I was yelling at the TV for him to get the **** on with it!

That incident pissed me off.

 

[MR0808]

Physically cringing?

I was yelling at the TV for him to get the **** on with it!

That incident pissed me off.

We've done it a lot this year, just stopped when we expected a free rather than playing on the whistle. It's crap!

 

[caesar88]

Physically cringing?

I was yelling at the TV for him to get the **** on with it!

That incident pissed me off.

I actually think he should've been fined for it myself. If the AFL is serious about the issue of safety of the head, then I think players trying to exploit it should be penalised. Blakey is surely not the only player who has done it, and we can never really know his true intentions, but it looked an awful lot like a player ducking his head to initiate contact and then exaggerating the contact to milk a free. Not on, and counter-productive to what the AFL is trying to achieve.

I'm also old enough to remember when faux-tough guy antics like that would get you dragged from the ground and given a right dressing down on the bench by a coach.

 

[TheMase]

I actually think he should've been fined for it myself. If the AFL is serious about the issue of safety of the head, then I think players trying to exploit it should be penalised. Blakey is surely not the only player who has done it, and we can never really know his true intentions, but it looked an awful lot like a player ducking his head to initiate contact and then exaggerating the contact to milk a free. Not on, and counter-productive to what the AFL is trying to achieve.

I'm also old enough to remember when faux-tough guy antics like that would get you dragged from the ground and given a right dressing down on the bench by a coach.

I think the free kick was probably there, but he just has to get on with it.

Coach always told me, and I always told the kids I coached, play the whistle. Don’t **** up the team in the hope you’ll convince the umpire you’ve been wronged.

I hope in the review they tear him a new one. In fact they should show it to all of them. Have the playing group own these kind of things and give each other a clip over the ear to stamp it out.

 

[caesar88]

I think the free kick was probably there, but he just has to get on with it.

Coach always told me, and I always told the kids I coached, play the whistle. Don’t **** up the team in the hope you’ll convince the umpire you’ve been wronged.

I hope in the review they tear him a new one. In fact they should show it to all of them. Have the playing group own these kind of things and give each other a clip over the ear to stamp it out.

Blakey making such a blatant attempt at initiating the free is probably what deterred the umpires from paying it. So it was embarrassing but also just dumb.

Re the issue of accountability for actions like this, I just wonder if there is enough of it. As I said I can remember a time when players giving soft or lazy or sloppy efforts had you dragged and sometimes even not reappearing in that position again. I distinctly remember a game in I think it was 2015(?) when Lewis Jetta had one or two of the worst efforts of defensive running you'll ever see playing up and down the wing. The Fox Footy cameras cut to Horse giving him an almighty spray, and then after the break Jetta started on the bench and was then played out of the forward pocket where he barely saw it. That was so normal at the time that it hardly registered, it's only now that I look back on it that cases like that stand out.

Blakey carrying on like a pork chop, Warner having repeatedly putrid defensive efforts (do not get me started on that...), McInerney's absurd 'cute' taps... do these things even get addressed? Because no sooner have I calmed down from watching them unfold are they right back out there still doing them! Maybe it's not even exclusive to us, but is more the state of the sport in this day and age. A greater emphasis on mental health and player welfare has maybe phased out some of the sprays and drags that used to be deployed to get through to players?