Rod Blake

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Rod Blake**
Personal Info
Birth	1952, Geelong, Victoria
Recruited from	Inverleigh
Playing Career¹
Debut	1979, Geelong Football Club vs. , at
Team(s)	Geelong Football Club
¹ Statistics to end of 1984 season
Career Highlights
* Carji Greeves Medal winner (1980) * 176 games * 133 goals

Rod Blake (born June 15, 1952) is an Australian rules football veteran ruckman whose career spanned a fourteen-year period beginning in 1971. He played a total of 176 games in the Victoria Football League, and kicked 113 goals.

[edit] History

Blake's career in the VFL began in 1971 with the team at Inverleigh, where he spent eight years playing with the likes of Ian Hampshire and Sam Newman (a.k.a. John Newman). In 1979, he was recruited by the Geelong Cats, and played for that team until his retirement in 1984. He is the father of current Geelong player Mark Blake.

During his tenure, he played thrice for Victoria.

[edit] Achievements

He was considered a lightweight at 93.5 kg (206 lbs); however, Blake compensated for this potential disadvantage with agility and height — towering over his peers at 199 cm 6ft 5in. At the end of his first year with the Cats, he was the team's number one ruckman; the following year, he won the best and fairest award. He started out as a favourite for the Brownlow medal, but fell short, coming in with 19 votes, four shy of the 23 attained by the award winner, Kelvin Templeton of Footscray.