Blake Lawrie set to replace Tyson Frizell in Dragons pack
Meet the rising St George Illawarra forward set to replace NSW Origin stars Jack de Belin and Tyson Frizell, the unlikely saviour labelled a “throwback” by one teammate.
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BLAKE Lawrie has the body of a barfly in his 40s.
Or so goes the latest sledge being tossed around the St George Illawarra dressing room.
“Oh, Blake’s a throwback,” Dragons centre Tim Lafai laughs when quizzed on the young Wollongong prop.
“He’s got the body of a 40-year-old who just finished at the pub. A few of the boys have actually been calling him George Rose’s son.”
But guess what?
Just as Gorgeous George helped the Manly Sea Eagles to that NRL premiership in 2011 — and while weighing north of 120kg — so Lawrie now emerges as the unlikely saviour of a Dragons pack missing NSW Origin stars Jack de Belin and Tyson Frizell.
Sure, he’s only 22.
And with just 16 NRL games.
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Throw in too that rig lifted straight from a Scanlons playing card.
But with de Belin suspended indefinitely, and Frizell nursing a lacerated testicle, this hulking Dapto Canaries product is suddenly being squeezed into the Dragons No. 13 for a Thursday Night Football showdown with South Sydney at Kogarah Oval.
Already dubbed ‘Blocker’ because of his likeness to eighties icon Steve Roach, Lawrie is gunning for a massive 2019 season following a long, and frank, conversation with Dragons Test star James Graham — albeit over a coffee rather than copious schooners of Resches.
The young forward also revealed his Bunnies opposite Thursday night will be no stranger — having played alongside Cameron Murray in the 2017 Junior Kangaroos.
“Cam’s a world class player,” the 103kg prop said. “He’ll be a superstar.
“We only had a week together but what I noticed was how hard he trains and the way he carries himself. He was a leader in that camp.”
And as for Graham’s advice?
“We spoke over coffee about what I needed to work on as a player,” Lawrie continued. “What I wanted to achieve. What sacrifices I was willing to make.
“Now hopefully over the pre-season I’ve done that.”
And as for having ever copped a spray off Jammer?
“At training, yeah,” Lawrie laughed. “We were doing an opposed session and got a bit fiery with one another.
“But that’s footy.
“The testosterone was going around … it’s the competition we live for.”
Certainly Dragons players believe ‘Blocker’ now has the drive and toughness required to replace Frizell, who had himself switched from an edge to replace de Belin.
“Blake is the best young forward we have coming through,“ prop Paul Vaughan insists. “Tough, big engine and played two of his best games in the finals last year.
“He had big shoes to fill and stepped right up.”
And as for that pub body?
“Don’t be fooled by how he looks,” Lafai says with a cackle. “Blocker runs hard, has footwork and can ball play.
“He’s even putting his hand up to fill in at fullback if needed … although I don’t think we’ll have to go that far.”
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