Injuries continued to plague Connor Blakely, the half back rebounder missing the first eight weeks with a serious hamstring injury suffered in preseason. On his return, Blakely was unable to recapture the form of the previous 24 months, declining in disposal, mark, tackle and metres gained outputs. Enjoying an injury-free preseason, Connor Blakely will aim to return to the form of old as he leads the first line of attack. Unfortunately, he has missed a third of games over the past four seasons through a series of ailments, and this must affect his fantasy prospects. Worth the punt if available in the latter mid rounds.
Flaky Blakely
Injuries continued to plague Connor Blakely, the half back rebounder missing the first eight weeks with a serious hamstring injury suffered in preseason. On his return, Blakely was unable to recapture the form of the previous 24 months, declining in disposal, mark, tackle and metres gained outputs. Enjoying an injury-free preseason, Connor Blakely will aim to return to the form of old as he leads the first line of attack. Unfortunately, he has missed a third of games over the past four seasons through a series of ailments, and this must affect his fantasy prospects. Worth the punt if available in the latter mid rounds.
Don't reach for Blakely
A shift from midfield to half back did not change Connor Blakely’s fantasy scoring at all, with 90+ averages across the past two seasons. Damage to the meniscus in his right knee shut his 2018 season down around the bye, but before that Blakely was third behind Lachie Neale and Nat Fyfe for possessions and led the club for marks at a rate of seven per week. He tore his hamstring off the bone in late January, putting him out for at least half the season. As a defender in fantasy, the strong possibility of Blakely filling Lachie Neale’s shoes in midfield is a tantalising prospect. Considering that Blakely has been working with midfield coach Anthony Rock, all signs were lighting up for his upside going into 2019 as a potential partner of Nat Fyfe. The injury means he may not go drafted at all, as it would be a long time for him to sit on your bench and there are no guarantees he would come back fit.
Connor Blakely is coming to this game off the back of three consecutive fantasy tons, his best run of form since finally replacing Garrick Ibbotson as Fremantle's preferred seventh defender last season. He had posted two sub-60 scores in the month prior to that though, including a 47 against the Tigers which indicates that he struggles against teams with good frontal pressure. He may even cop a tag today with Jed Lamb a likely type to annoy him all day, but plenty of fantasy coaches will hope that he avoids that fate and continues his good form.
Can't jimmy Connor out
Despite doing creditably well in tagging jobs in midfield in the first half of the season, Ross Lyon was in experimentation mode after the bye and he moved Connor Blakely to half back. The result was a 39 point jump in fantasy average to a massive 126 from four full games, based on a massive jump in uncontested marks with about as many inside 50s as rebound 50s. His season ended early with a shoulder dislocation. Blakely was perfectly draftable as a midfielder, somewhere in middle rounds if we take his first-half form line as gospel. Can we believe these stupendous numbers on a HBF, given the sample size? Will he even play there in 2018 with Nathan Wilson incoming? In a post-season presser the player said he wants to return to midfield, but the coach wants him to play more on a man. This bears very close scrutiny in the JLT.
