THE AGE: Blake's Third Act

[Geelong_Sicko]

I was hoping he'd sort himself out by now - he can tap but yeah, around the ground Mark Blake is a three-legged dog. One-dimensional ruckmen are a thing of the past these days, so if you don't pull your weight, lay tackles and get more involved then you're up shit creek as a senior player.

Keep Blakey in the magoos and see if he can throw some opposition kids around. If his groundwork improves he may well get another crack. If not...

 

[BigBadCam]

I remember a lot of people used to defend Blake by saying that he was a decent second string ruckman and that's all we needed him to be. When did all your opinions change? It was obvious after watching Mumford in his first game that he had a lot more potential and did more of the hard things than Blake and rather than being content to be a second (or third) string ruckman, he has shown that he has the potential to be our number one ruckman. As I used to always say, you draft players who can actually play the game. Blake couldn't, and hasn't been able to learn. Time to go - Mark Blake.

Ps. That's two age articles and an SEN report that I have been quoted in.

 

[Geelong_Sicko]

I remember a lot of people used to defend Blake by saying that he was a decent second string ruckman and that's all we needed him to be. When did all your opinions change? It was obvious after watching Mumford in his first game that he had a lot more potential and did more of the hard things than Blake and rather than being content to be a second (or third) string ruckman, he has shown that he has the potential to be our number one ruckman. As I used to always say, you draft players who can actually play the game. Blake couldn't, and hasn't been able to learn. Time to go - Mark Blake.

Ps. That's two age articles and an SEN report that I have been quoted in.

Your fame is spreading. Become a media dynamo, mate. On a serious note, I was always willing to give Blakey a chance. 'All he needs is time' I used to say to myself. Plus, if I'm gonna be honest here I might as well say it - I felt real bad for him at the end of 2007.

I have absolutely NO DOUBTS that playing Steven King in the G.F was the right thing to do (I would have felt worse for Kingy if he missed out, being an ex-captain and servant of the club for so long) but still I felt sorry for our 'three-legged dog'.

I wanted Mark Blake to succeed. I wanted him in another Premiership side. It should have been in 2008 and sadly it wasn't to be. He may well miss out this year, and I don't feel so bad. Why? He's had a chance to prove himself and he hasn't done enough. The Mummy has risen from the tomb and, while he's not rampaging yet, one can see he's got some talent and he's willing to throw his weight around too.

Sorry Blakey. Until you lift your around-the-ground presence you're out of the team.