I was wrong

[BarryG]

They'll ignore all the good things he did, and just focus on that errant handball that resulted on a Collingwood goal.

Put a positive spin on it, it was a goal assist to Blake.

 

[nohairandfair]

Blake was serviceable last night. But lets not kid ourselves, he will only ever be a good tap ruckman that always provides a genuine rucking contest. As Thompson himself mentioned, perhaps his best strength is his durability.

That errant handball in the backline was woeful and just exposed his very poor handballing technique. This is not a one off. Most of his handballs look ungainly and are generally desperate dish-offs to static players rather than creative offerings to teamates running into space.

Blake has no place in running the ball out of the backline due to his poor decision making and flawed disposal. Thankfully the coaching staff understand his limitations and we don't see this very often.

 

[Boxhead_31]

Happy to say a nice game by Blake last night was good to see him not let the turnover get him down and he was involved a lot more around the gorund than he has ever been in the past.

Was interesting to hear that Tom Harley believes that for team balance looking forward when Ottens gets back that he thought that the ruck combo should be Ottens and Hawkins and that Leigh Matthews agreed with him

 

[cynical]

blake was good again

but id rather ottens + hawkins in the ruck

hawkins taking marks in defense and around the ground is a big plus

 

[Gaz_Brownlow]

Blake smashed Jolly - i mean really smashed him. Was absolutely superb and has been playing great footy all year.

Hawkins too had a good game and looks at ease in his position.

I think we have a real dillema when Otto' gets fit, as i actually feel a little uncomfortable dropping Blake from the ruck and i its hard to see us continuing with Hawk, Pods and Mooney as the three prong attack.... especially when Stokes, Byrnes and Varcoe are combining so well...

We really have to give Blake credit - has stood up in a few big games of late (notably grand final last year!) and definitely provides us an advantage around the clearances. Our side is stronger with him in it!

 

[scottydeewah]

he will only ever be a good tap ruckman that always provides a genuine rucking contest

Well that is good to know. I will tell Blakey not to bother going to training or working on any aspects of his game.

It was pointed out last week that there are a lot of ruckman who took a long time to develop. Hill and Sandilands two of the best of the last 3 years were much maligned players at their respective clubs, before blossoming in their late 20s.

It looks like Blakey is working hard at his game. He was good in traffic last night (the pass to Shagga in the pocket was OUTSTANDING play), he smashed Jolly round the ground and in the ruck and he worked hard all night.

Best available ruckman on the list.

 

[The Cats Teeth]

This from Thomas13 on Collingwood board "Also, seriously, Woody made Blake look like Polly Farmer out there tonight. " Although a stretch too far Blake for mine was close to BOG in first half. I really enjoy the way he is now taking the game on - seems far more decisive. As for that handball, well you gotta take the game on and Josh Hunt was totally flat footed and didn't read the situation very well.

 

[scottydeewah]

If that handball was all he did, yeah crucify the guy, but the game was mistake ridden.

Agreed he dominated the first half, was the only ruckman out there. I was up out of my seat and losing the plot when he gathered that ball and gave it to Shagga in my pocket...was inspirational!

He will definitely hit is prime later in his career, around 28 I reckon. Hopefully can really learn how to take an overhead grab and sneak forward and kick some goals every so often in the future. Right now though, he should just keep working on what he is now because he is going from strength to strength.

Do people understand that we have a salary cap so not every player can be a superstar?

 

[Gaz_Brownlow]

Have to keep giving credit to him - is playing good footy and killing the ruck. His durability should not go unnoticed too - for a ruckman he offers us a hell of a lot.

Interesting to hear Bombers comments on playing Dawson Simpson next week? Would have thought we would perserve with Tommy a bit more, especially considering his form. Would still like to see West get a run....

 

[barmy44]

just watching the replay. one minute thirty into the first quarter. so far blake has bodied jolly completely out of a contest and won the tap convincingly, got a clearance with excellent ball control before releasing kelly, won a ball in the pocket in heavy traffic and that tap to ablett for the first goal was brilliant.

id only listened to the game on radio previously, and even then i was impressed with blake. x2 now.

no matter how much he gets hated on in this forum, the guy is performing well as an AFL premiership ruckman. not many on here can claim to have done one sixteenth of what this guy has.

 

[Brasil2007]

Do people understand that we have a salary cap so not every player can be a superstar?

A bunch of people seem to compare him to Dean Cox, Brad Ottens, etc. Nobody compares say, James Kelly to Chris Judd. Not every player is going to be the best in their position in the competition. Having said that, Blakey's last three weeks are probably as good as any ruckman in the competition, with the exception probably of Sandilands and Cox.

I was very impressed with the coach's comments on Blake after the match. Sounded a little like comments he made in defence of another big man under pressure a few years ago...

 

[darren forssman]

My jaw dropped when be banged it outside 50 into the goal square!

was that in the 3rd qtr? if so, that was a shot on goal that 2-3 pies players were just waiting to drop into their laps.

id like to see less glory hunting in such tight tense games and for him to hit up a target (which he has proven he can do).

Blake was good. I'm a little bit of a fence sitter on Blake. I'm a realist in that he is one of our best two rucks and he will play so I tend not to get caught up in the slanging matches.

Hawkins rucking I haven't been keen on but there was an evident benefit tonight. The thing that shone out in the first quarter tonight was the Hawk dropping back and filling the space in defensive 50, he took two or three saving marks back there. That is something different again to what both Ottens and Blake offer as ruckman. It's an old school ruckman tactic but still very useful.

x2

 

[bring back polly]

a few weeks ago i was gob-smacked at how Blake was an on-looker when the pill was only 1 -2 metres away. conversely, last night he really impressed. he got involved. and was used by his team-mates as a link up too.

somewhere in the last few weeks there must have been a good honest chin-wag behind closed doors, cos' he sung the song with gusto with his teammates post-game last night. that was telling.

i got the impression as he sang, that for the first time in his career, Blake felt that .... HE BELONGED.

 

[Nankervis brothers]

For me, especially in the first half, Blake was Best of Ground. He slowed in the second but was still in our top two or three players.

Byrnes surely has to make way for Hogan or Duncan though.

Why?

I know that Byrnes is hated by most Geelong supporters, but look at the facts.

He has played all nine games this year, averaging 18 disposals and 5.4 marks per match. He has 15 goals for the season. Those numbers place him on par with Alan Didak and ahead of Stephen Milne (both of whom are considered key small-medium forwards by their respective teams). Beyond that he is also in the top 10 for goal assists this year.

I'm not saying he is as good as those players, but he is FAR better than people make out. I'd say the GFC know this, and that is why they have considered him a lock for their best 22 for the last season and half. I'd be surprised if that changes, as his form has been good through 2010.

 

[goodoldcats]

a few weeks ago i was gob-smacked at how Blake was an on-looker when the pill was only 1 -2 metres away. conversely, last night he really impressed. he got involved. and was used by his team-mates as a link up too.

somewhere in the last few weeks there must have been a good honest chin-wag behind closed doors, cos' he sung the song with gusto with his teammates post-game last night. that was telling.

i got the impression as he sang, that for the first time in his career, Blake felt that .... HE BELONGED.

this

 

[winty]

Loved when he stepped around two Collingwood players on attacking 50, then pin-pointed a pass to Byrnes 25m out. Who'd have thought we'd ever see Blake do something like that?

Hope he does the job on Jamar next week, who has been in rare form himself thus far this year. Maybe then people like Mighty Achilles might finally get off Blakey's back, though somehow I doubt it.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Happy to say a nice game by Blake last night was good to see him not let the turnover get him down and he was involved a lot more around the gorund than he has ever been in the past.

Was interesting to hear that Tom Harley believes that for team balance looking forward when Ottens gets back that he thought that the ruck combo should be Ottens and Hawkins and that Leigh Matthews agreed with him

Yeah it was interesting. I think as much as anything it is a recognisation that you couldn't drop Pods (well hopefully not) in his current form, so they need to find a spot for Hawk. Hawk has been serviceable in the ruck. Blake, despite that errant handball, played a fairly good game last night, so I found it very interesting that Bomber seemed to strongly indicate the presence of Dawson Simpson soon. Be interesting to see who gets unluckily dropped. Anyway we won't have a clear idea of Blake's JS until Otto gets back, then we shall see.

 

[True Blue Cat]

I haven't seen the stats or anything but he sure did show up Jolly.

 

[alfy!]

Agreed, he had a great game against quality competition. Hopefully he can string a few good games together consistently.