Blake Caracella (2003 - 2004)

[Grimreepah]

2002 Trade (http://www.lions.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/5085/newsid/103664/default.aspx)

Blake Caracella
from Essendon for Damian Cupido and draft selection 15 (Nicholas Smith)

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/7908/blakecaracella.jpg

Premierships:

2003

B: Chris Johnson Mal Michael Darryl White
HB: Luke Power Justin Leppitsch Nigel Lappin
C: Jason Akermanis Michael Voss (c) Martin Pike
HF: Ashley McGrath Jonathan Brown Robert Copeland
F: Craig McRae Alastair Lynch Daniel Bradshaw
Foll: Clark Keating Simon Black Shaun Hart
Int: Jamie Charman Blake Caracella Marcus Ashcroft
Richard Hadley
Coach: Leigh Matthews

Merrett-Murray Medal results:

2003: 21st (31.5 votes)
2004: =19th (28.5 votes)

[Grimreepah]

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_Caracella)

Full name: Blake Caracella
Birth: 15 March 1977
Place of birth: Melbourne, Victoria
Recruited from: St Marys / Northern Knights
Height: 186 cm
Weight: 85 kg

Selected by Essendon in the 1995 National Draft at pick 10, Caracella finally debuted with the Bombers in 1997. What had held him back was his lack of bulk – he came to the club weighing only 74 kg – however he rectified this by pushing his playing weight up to 83 kg prior to his AFL debut. Caracella quickly established himself in the side as a skilful small forward/goalsneak, who had patience and poise. He earned himself an AFL Rising Star nomination for his work. He was a vital part of Essendon's premiership win in 2000, contributing 35 goals for the season. At the end of 2002 he was controversially traded to the Brisbane Lions.

Caracella's stay in Brisbane only lasted two years, during which he played 34 games, including the Lions' 2003 premiership winning team and also their unsuccessful 2004 AFL Grand Final side. Reasons cited for his trade from both Essendon and Brisbane was to ease the strain of salary cap restrictions at both clubs.

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/5664/blakecaracella2.jpg

Statistics:

rleague (http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/players/B/Blake_Caracella.html)
footywire (http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-collingwood-magpies--blake-caracella)
final siren (http://finalsiren.com/PlayerStats.asp?PlayerID=928)

[Grimreepah]

Pick 10 in the 1994 National Draft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_AFL_Draft)

Essendon bio (http://www.essendonfc.com.au/team/player-past.asp?id=134)

Blake Caracella made his senior debut against North Melbourne in Round 3 of the 1997 season after he had played two full years in the Reserves. He had a solid season in 1997, kicking 15 goals from nine games, which saw him nominated for the Norwich Rising Star award in which he ultimately came runner-up. Caracella won the EFC Best first year player in 1997.

After being hampered by injury in 1998 Caracella had an excellent 1999 season, polling Crichton Medal votes in four of the final five games for the season.

Caracella had an excellent year in 2000 coming 3rd in the Crichton Medal and cementing a place in the side, playing 24 games for the year. Caracella finished his 2000 season off by being a member of the premiership team. He also represented Australia in the International Rules against Ireland.

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/2580/blakecaracella4.jpg

[Grimreepah]

The best pick No.10s in draft history (http://m.news.com.au/AFL/pg/0/fi913413.htm)
November 10, 2011 12:00AM

4. Blake Caracella, 1994 (Essendon)

Weighed just 74kg when he was drafted and never really put on many more kilos, but played 187 games and kicked 218 goals as a skilful half-forward for the Bombers, Brisbane Lions and Collingwood. A key part of Essendon's 2000 premiership team.

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/9569/blakecaracella6.jpg

[Grimreepah]

Caracella must change ways (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/22/1050777260294.html)
By Tim Watson
April 23 2003

Former Bomber Blake Caracella is facing the most searching time of his career. Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews has drawn a line in the sand and sent him back to the club's reserve grade team. He won't return until he changes the way he plays. At the moment, Queensland is not looking beautiful one day and perfect the next. In a lot of ways, it's the continuation of a nightmare that began with the trading of his good mate at Essendon Damien Hardwick to Port Adelaide in October 2001. While all players were unhappy about the popular Bomber moving on, Caracella was particularly filthy on the club. He couldn't accept the financial reasoning. Others got on with the business of trying to win another flag in 2002 but Caracella was never able to put the episode behind him. His way of handling the disappointment didn't endear him to the front office.

In categorising players, he would be termed an outside player. In the Essendon machine of 2000-01, he was part of the overdrive system. A gifted athlete, he has always had the ability to run out a game. Plotting his performances on a graph would reveal big second-half and time-on possession gathering. When the direct opponent lagged, he pounced. He was also a key player at Essendon's stoppages. The problem was that he wasn't moving on as a player and wasn't developing another side to his game. No one believed he would ever play with the courage of James Hird or the aggression of Mark Johnson, but to improve and become a more valuable player he had to start hunting his own ball. And this is where he has fallen foul of Matthews.

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/9569/blakecaracella6.jpg

[Grimreepah]

Coach praises Caracella (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/28/1051381899201.html)
Bill McDonald
April 29 2003

For the past fortnight he has chalked up plenty of touches in the Lions' reserve grade, which plays in a lopsided AFLQ local competition.
As captain last weekend, Caracella worked hard enough through the midfield to convince Matthews that his mind is on the job, and he has the right attitude about being dropped. "I was very pleased because it was a great test of his character. I mean, 12 months previously he was playing in front of 80,000 in the Anzac Day game, and he's now playing at a suburban venue," said Matthews.
"He did what a player has to do: he focused on what he had to do, which is play the game, and did it - I was really impressed with what he did," he said.
Matthews demands toughness at the ball and wants Caracella to find more of it, but the coach believes he is on the right track.

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/3317/blakecaracella8.jpg

[Grimreepah]

Caracella dons new colours for that grand old feeling (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/24/1064083058389.html?from=storyrhs)
Chloe Saltau
September 25, 2003

Coach Leigh Matthews said Caracella possessed a knowledge of the MCG that would prove priceless on grand final day. Caracella received a few messages of good luck from his old Bomber teammates after the Lions conquered Sydney. He has noticed the similarities with the Bombers' 2001 campaign, when injuries conspired to end Essendon's tilt at back-to-back premierships.
"We had three years at Essendon up there . . . Unfortunately, we stuffed up in '99 and, of course, it's been well documented the last few weeks how similar Essendon in 2001 is to this year, and I've actually found it quite similar myself. It's been a tough year."

http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/7908/blakecaracella.jpg

[Grimreepah]

Pick 2 in the 2005 Pre-Season Draft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_AFL_Draft)

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/4922/blakecaracella5.jpg

[Grimreepah]

Caracella's future in doubt (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2006-06-05/caracellas-future-in-doubt/1770830)
June 05, 2006 10:39:00

Collingwood forward Blake Caracella is expected to remain in a Melbourne hospital for several days after seriously injuring his neck during Saturday's night win over the Brisbane Lions.

Caracella was stretchered from the field in the second quarter of the 26-point win over Brisbane after being involved in a heavy collision with Lions player Tim Notting. He suffered a fractured vertebrae and bruised spinal cord and is unlikely to play again this season.

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/3317/blakecaracella8.jpg

[Grimreepah]

Caracella hangs up his boots (http://s11.invisionfree.com/badlightstoppedplay/ar/t2930.htm)
August 2, 2006

Collingwood forward Blake Caracella announced his AFL retirement today after learning he risked possible paralysis if he played again.

Caracella was involved in an accidental clash with Brisbane's Tim Notting in round 10, suffering a fractured vertebrae and bruising to the spinal cord.

Subsequent X-rays revealed that the former Essendon and Brisbane premiership player had a pre-existing spinal flaw.

"I'm here to announce my retirement from football today due to the fact that I've seen a specialist over the last two weeks and I'm at an increased risk of doing further damage to my spinal cord and possibly being paralysed," said the 29-year-old Caracella.

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/4922/blakecaracella5.jpg

[luthor]

Had a lot of time for the "Carrott-Seller" actually.

More than useful in the 2 years he spent at the Lions:thumbsu:

I can remember getting really pissed off when, as a Collingwood player he got that bad neck injury from the unfortunate incident with Timmy Notting (2005 at the G???)

a) because I just hate to see bad injuries and

b) because there were fools on the Bigfooty board at the time who were calling for all sorts of ridiculous sanctions against Notting (life bans.... blah...blah.... blah) for what was plainly nothing more than an unfortunate accident.

The irony of it all was, if I recall correctly, that Cara and Timmy were in fact really good mates:footy:

[Grimreepah]

Had a lot of time for the "Carrott-Seller" actually.

More than useful in the 2 years he spent at the Lions:thumbsu:

Yeah I rated him quite highly too, Luthor. I remember he had this right-to-left action on his set shots that almost never missed. Even in his Essendon days I thought he was better than what the public gave him credit for.

From what I have heard on BigFooty there were various Lions fans that never really warmed to him.

[ZoBlitz]

Yeah I rated him quite highly too, Luthor. I remember he had this right-to-left action on his set shots that almost never missed. Even in his Essendon days I thought he was better than what the public gave him credit for.

From what I have heard on BigFooty there were various Lions fans that never really warmed to him.

I think the perception was, by some, that he was too soft which I think was unfair. He played a role and did it pretty well.

[POBT]

I never really warmed to him. He just seemed like an anathema to what our club was about - unrelenting attack on man and ball. But the reality is that we always had one or two who were more outside than in, to use the modern vernacular. Caracella was no more outside than Headland or even Notting. Even guys like Lappin and Akermanis were selective in when they put their head over it.

I'd love a Caracella type on our list now. Hoping that JO'B is one option for that type of role.