AFL 2020: Why Sydney Swan Nick Blakey opted for AFL over NRL and rugby

He grew up surrounded by players from other football codes but there was a big reason this Sydney Swans youngster opted for a career in AFL.

Nick Blakey is the son of gun player John Blakey.

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He might have gone to a school with a top rugby program and lived in an area well know as NRL turf but there was never any chance Sydney Swan youngster Nick Blakey was going to pursue anything but a career in AFL.

The son of former premiership winning player John Blakey said family heritage helped steer him towards AFL but it was the size of his former rugby playing schoolmates which sealed the deal.

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“They were huge. When I see the big rugby guys I run for my life,’’ laughed the former Waverly College student who spent most his school years in Randwick before moving with his family to Coogee.

“I’m only a skinny guy.’’

A skinny guy who now stands 196cm tall and has managed to put on five kilos to be 86kg for his second season with the Sydney Swans.

Blakey, a graduate of the Swans Academy, said his father, now a defensive coach at the Sydney club, never pressured him into the sport which saw him play 135 games for Fitzroy and 224 for North Melbourne, including the 1996 and 1999 premierships.

“Growing up everyone wants to be like their dad and I was the exact same. I looked up to him,’’ Blakey said. “I wouldn’t be where I am without him.

“AFL was really big on you just do what you want to do. What makes you happy. AFL was what I loved doing.

Nick Blakey and his John Blakey.

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“He’s the defence coach this year. I’m a mid forward so I don’t do a lot of things with him.

“But its nice having dad there. He’s just my dad and we are really close. We have a great relationships so its pretty cool to be in the same club.’’

The Swans are hoping to rebound from a season where they failed to make the finals and finished the 2019 season in 15th place when the AFL lockdown is lifted..

It was the first time since 2009 that the Swans failed to make the finals and only the fourth time in 24 years they were absent from the business end of the season.

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Originally published as AFL 2020: Why Sydney Swan Nick Blakey opted for AFL over NRL and rugby