Blakely finds new home at Suns

Josh Kempton

Former Docker Connor Blakely is excited to get back to work after being picked up by the Gold Coast in yesterday’s rookie draft.

Blakely played 78 matches over his 8 seasons with Fremantle, but fell out of favour in recent years, not playing an AFL game last year.

The 26 year old said he was glad to be out of football limbo after spending a few weeks uncertain about his future.

“It’s something that you get told that there’s interest or you get told that it’s looking good and those sort of things, but never you put all your eggs in that one basket until it actually happens,” Blakely told Sports Breakfast.

“There’s so many different things that happen, as you saw with the draft with guys who don’t get picked up or they get picked up earlier or later, there’s so many different variables.

“I certainly wasn’t thinking it was definitely happening until my name was literally read out yesterday.”

Blakely believes the Gold Coast can push up the ladder in the 2023 season, after finishing 12th last year.

“I think that, as you can see in the last couple of years, they’ve just missed out on finals for a few years in a row, and they’ve started their seasons quite well,” he said.

“They’ve got quite a good young up and coming young list but their midfield, though it’s young, a lot of the guys have had a fair bit of AFL experience already, so that excites me.

“It’s a good time to be going over there and hopefully I can contribute on and off field.”

A rookie draftee contract only lasts for one season, meaning the inside midfielder will have to make a big early impression to continue his career.

“There’s not really too much time to waste, so I’m looking forward to just getting in there and training well and meeting everyone and mixing in nicely, and then it’s down to business,” Blakely said.

“It is a business, as what happened with me finishing up at Freo, they didn’t see me fit to go forward with in the future, so they get rid of you pretty quickly, so at the same time when you do have an opportunity like this, it’s very important to take it with both hands.

“Definitely looking to do well in the preseason, fingers crossed injury free, and then go from there.”

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