Blake Howes: April Diary

'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.

Kicking. Running. Speed. Gym 

They were the four focuses of versatile Sandringham prospect Blake Howes’ 2020. 

Frustration and bitterness weighed heavily on Howes, as it did on everyone. A year of footy lost, a sizeable chunk of his youth seemingly wasted. 

After being named All-Australian in 2019 as a member of Vic Metro under 16s team and playing in representative teams throughout juniors, including the schoolboys’ under 12s side, he had great hopes for 2020. Winning the Herald Sun Shield for St. Bede’s, getting an opportunity to make his NAB League debut, and senior footy were all potentially on the agenda. 

Instead, it was: kicking. Running. Speed. Gym. An exhausting and institutionalising habit, but beneficial nonetheless. 

Howes caught up with Sandringham head coach Jackson Kornberg several times throughout 2020 to work on his kicking.  

“The thing with Blake is he’s very literal in everything he does so we’re going through things from a technical side. He’s hitting more targets and following through and then hurting opposition with his running ability so it was a real focus to join in a bit more after he kicks the ball,” Kornberg said. 

Kicking under fatigue during sessions with teammate Finn Callaghan and Dandenong's Justin Davies at different times were also implemented by Howes to improve. 

It remains a conscious focus this year and forwards coach Danny Byrne has provided assistance and support. 

“His action through the ball on impact is actually brilliant, it’s one of the best I’ve ever seen and when he drops it in the right spot, he is just a beautiful kick of the footy," Byrne said.

“We’ve been talking about getting the ball drops into the slot. We worked on that with [regards to] goalkicking and he had one bad game in Tassie where he missed a few but the rest of the season he was just really accurate." 

Running sessions with Callaghan and Marcus Windhager – both last year and this year – accelerated his improvement.

“Because my endurance is probably one of my weaknesses, doing running with Finn and Marcus is really good because they’re pretty good endurance runners so keeping up with them is something good for me to do. It’s great training with those boys." 

Speed, however, is a major strength. 

His 20-metre sprint time of 2.94 seconds in the NAB League testing at the beginning of the season placed him in the top ten. 

Twice weekly sessions with his older cousin, Mitchell, a personal trainer and ex-Dragon, have accelerated Howes. The pair have a tight relationship, with the training sessions dating back to October 2019, and Mitch has always taken an interest in Blake's journey.  

Howes’ athletic profile has always been a strength, but wanting to maintain his distinction after dad, Andrew, showed him vision as a kid of Chris Judd's explosiveness, it has been a focus of his sessions with Mitch - on the footy field, it has enabled him to impact in - and out of - traffic at NAB League level. 

“I think I’ve come a long way with getting my techniques right and lifting heavier weights, so he’s been really helpful," Howes said.

“He gets a lot out of me and I think I’ve really improved since I first started with him. 

“Since I’ve started gym with him, we’ve worked on doing leg strength which has helped my power and speed and agility. It’s been really beneficial because I feel like I’m a lot quicker than when I started gym with him so in that sense it’s been really, really good. 

It has all led him to this moment. A balmy Easter Monday at RSEA Park against Oakleigh in front of one of the biggest NAB League home and away crowds ever. A perfect day for footy and Howes plays as a high half-forward. Although only amassing 12 touches, his foot skills showed at times and he kicked a goal in the second quarter.

His next two games were equally quiet from a possessions point-of-view – partially due to his role – but he laid a team-high nine tackles in the wet against Northern to show his doggedness defensively. 

“I was pretty happy with my first game against Oakleigh. In that game I had some pretty good moments and played the way I wanted to play and contributed pretty well to the team. 

"My last two games, I’ve been quiet and a little bit average. In the Eastern game I didn’t use the ball as well as I would have liked to.” 

In tomorrow's edition of Dragons Tales, we'll hear from one of Blake's junior coaches, and his love of playing school football for St Bede's.