August Reflections

'Dragons Tales'  is a series of indepth feature stories on some of our top prospects in 2021, exploring their junior careers, their upbringing, the ups and downs of the dealing with COVID complications and more, written by Jonty Ralphsmith. This week we will be focusing on half-forward Blake Howes.

Blake Howes is a dazzler. 

Clean gathers, marks taken out-of-position, and an air of pace are among the moments of wizardry Howes showed in the NAB League this season. 

Two goals from beyond 50 against the Western Jets gave a glimpse into his party tricks.  

Those flashes of brilliance have always been a feature of Howes’ game. 

His under 16s coach at Mordialloc Braeside, Sean Allcock, remembers his share of ‘Howes he done that?’ moments. 

“Blake would do something that you’d go ‘you’re not meant to do that. That’s not technically correct, you’re out of position’ and he still won the footy and sat on the kid’s head. He had all this untapped talent.

“The ball would be tumbling around and he’d be able to pick it up clean as a whistle and then hit someone 40 out. I never really saw him get tackled, very similar to a [Scott] Pendlebury. The game seemed to slow down a bit when he had the footy, it looked like he was running at half pace because he had all the time in the world.

“You can’t not pick Blake because you don’t know what mercurial thing he’s going to do. When he’s on, he’s just unbelievably influential.” 

Pleasingly, like during much of his juniors, his moments of excellence were harmonised with an underbelly of consistency, particularly during the second half of the season. 

Playing predominantly as an offensive wingman for Sandy, with bursts in the midfield, he averaged a tick under 20 disposals and more than two shots on goal per game, using his height at 190cm to his advantage as an attractive lead-up target. 

“To be able to hit the scoreboard when I was playing wing was something I was really enjoying. Jacko gives me a little bit of a licence to hit the scoreboard more and it helps the team as well. 

“I try and break away from an opponent and take off because not a lot of wingers necessarily hit the scoreboard so that’s something that can separate me.” 

He accumulated all 44 of his Best and Fairest votes in his last four games for Sandy to storm to a top five finish, alongside two outings for Vic Metro against Vic Country, underlining his improvement and potential. 

Athleticism and work rate have also stood out and his kicking is more assured. 

“Back then, [my kicking] was a little bit everywhere, now I’m a bit more consistent with dropping it over my boot. When my routine’s on, it's pretty good and solid.

"Me and Danny did a lot of different kicking conditions - when its windy, or wet or perfect and changing my ball drop. It’s been pretty beneficial and has improved a lot." 

There were two pivot points that turned Howes’ underwhelming beginning to the season around to a NAB League team-of-the-year selection. 

School footy 

Lacking some belief and established form since returning to footy after 18 months out, the NAB League break in April enabled Howes to play three games of school footy. 

He went out with a clearer mind and less pressure. 

“I think it really came at the right time for me this year," Howes said.  

“At school footy, I’m a bit less nervous, I feel like I can just go out there and just play and not worry about any external stuff which allowed me to kick back into my rhythm and when I went back to Sandy I was able to play very solid footy.  

“St. Bede’s footy allowed me to find my groove back again and I was able to hit my straps. I really enjoyed it.” 

He was thrown around positionally, but always impacted. As well as rotating between his favoured half forward/wing position, he spent some time as a deep forward to weaponise his ability overhead in a one-on-one contest, and across halfback – where he played much of his junior footy.  

“It was close to one of my best games I’ve played this year. I could take a lot of intercept marks and just roll off,” he said of his game in defence. 

“It’s always a position I feel in the back of my mind that if I’m struggling, I could put myself there and I’d be pretty confident and back myself to play there if I needed to because I’ve had experience in my junior days.  

“The game I played there just reminded me I do enjoy that position as well.” 

Howes’ six marks in a quarter while playing behind the ball impressed St. Bede’s coach Owen Lalor, who was happy with the role that school footy played in Howes’ return to form. Lalor gave Howes the freedom to play on instinct. 

“He’s such a polite, respectful kid. He never got into trouble with a teacher, conducts himself so well. He’ll come up to you at school and ask you how you’re going,” Lalor said of Howes.  

“He certainly found some form playing school footy and that was important to him. 

“When things aren’t going your way, you can get down on yourself but what he does about it is more important. He tried little things and fought his way through it and found some form then played some really good Dragons games.”  

Howes remains non-committal when asked about his preferred position: “Half-forward and wing are the two positions where I do play my best footy but I wouldn't count myself out if I needed to play half-back as well."

In tomorrow's edition of Dragons Tales, find out what the second pivot point in his 2021 season was.