Versatile defender/midfielder Connor Blakely was delighted to get through his return to AFL football unscathed at the weekend.
Blakely played his first game in 11 months against Essendon at Marvel Stadium, collecting 20 disposals and taking six marks.
He showed no signs of the knee injury that ended his 2018 season or the pre-season hamstring injury in January that saw him miss the opening eight games of 2019.
“The comeback was good, it’s been a while but I was stoked to be out there and I’m really happy to get through injury free,” Blakely said.
Get your tickets for Sir Doug Nicholls Round here!
“The speed of the game and how hard the bodies hit was something I’d almost forgotten over the past nine months or so.
“It was good to get out there but it was a disappointing result.
“It was a very scrappy game, there were a few things that didn’t go our way and there are a few things that we really need to work on that we’ve been trying to implement over the past few weeks.
“Unfortunately it didn’t happen again on the weekend.”
Blakely said that he hopes to keep building after finding it tougher in the second half.
“The club gave me my best chance to come back in good physical shape,” Blakely said.
“I played a couple of games down at Peel and I’ve progressively been working on my match fitness.
“In the first half, I ran that out quite well, it’s just the second half with the accumulation of bodies hitting and running as hard as possible - I wasn’t struggling but I was definitely feeling it, especially at the higher intensity of an AFL game where you have to run super hard.”
Blakely said that running out games was a trait his teammates have exhibited this season.
While Freo sit ninth with a 4-5 record, their five losses have come at margins of 25 points or lower.
“This year, we’ve shown that we go to the very end, against GWS we had a good last quarter and against Adelaide we went to the very end,” Blakely said.
“Our fitness is definitely there it’s just a few fundamentals that we need to work on, our execution, a bit of mid forward connection are the things we’re really trying to work on at the moment.”
Round 10 in the AFL is the first of two weeks that celebrate Sir Doug Nicholls Round. Freo will wear their purple ‘home’ Indigenous jumper designed by Troy Cook for the game, which is proudly presented by Woodside.
