The league’s “ultimate Swiss Army knife” plays AFL game number 300 tonight against the Western Bulldogs. But before he had played a single game at the top level, there were doubts.
Mark Blicavs was taken by the Cats with Pick No.54 in the 2012 Rookie Draft, making him the 143rd player selected that year.
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In his first season at Geelong, the then-20-year-old was attempting to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London as a steeplechaser. His athletic capacity was through the roof, but some of his new teammates — and future club legends — had their doubts early about his capacity for Australian rules.
Mark Blicavs at the Australian Athletics Championships in 2012.Source: Getty Images
“Through different conversations, you’d find out that there was maybe a player you were looking at as a club. He had a connection to Cam Guthrie and the Guthrie family, so it was probably through Cam I found out about him,” three-time Geelong premiership player Tom Hawkins told foxfooty.com.au.
“I wandered out and had a look at him. His background was steeplechasing, and he was trying to qualify for the Commonwealth Games. I believe he was listed just before 2012, but didn’t play and it wasn’t until 2013 that he made his AFL debut.
“I just remember thinking: ‘He is so far back and has got so much to work on and learn’. Firstly, to get a game at AFL level, and secondly, to find a position as maybe an undersized, or potentially a defender.
“My outlook for his career — and I’ve told him this, so I’m happy to say it — was that I didn’t think he’d quite get there. And to think he’s now played 300 games of AFL footy!”
After a full season toiling away, Blicavs earned his AFL debut against Hawthorn in Round 1, 2013 at the MCG.
Coach Chris Scott deployed a two-man ruck strategy in the Monday afternoon fixture, seeing Blicavs play alongside Trent West to record nine disposals (eight handballs), 11 hitouts and two tackles in a seven-point win.
Blicavs is tackled by Jack Gunston on debut during the Round 1 AFL match between the Hawthorn Hawks and the Geelong Cats at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on April 1, 2013 (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)Source: Getty ImagesBlicavs celebrates his first AFL win in Geelong colours alongside Jared Rivers and Josh Caddy in the changerooms post-game on April 1, 2013 in Melbourne, Australia (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Since that match over 13 years ago, the Sunbury product has hardly missed a beat. Standing at 198 centimetres, Blicavs will tonight become just the second rookie selection in V/AFL history to play 300 games, joining Luke Breust (308 games) in rarefied air.
“He had a running power that you need to be able to utilise, so I didn’t see him playing as a midfielder on the ground (to begin with). He’s proven to be able to do that,” Hawkins said of his versatility.
“I maybe thought he could play the wing to use his assets, but he’s had to put on size and adjust to that, because he came in as a steeplechaser that hasn’t needed to be strong through all of his body.
“Even just to adapt to the changes; the game changes every five years in the way that it’s played. We’re going through a really fast tempo at the moment, but he had to put on a lot of size and adjust with the game to play.
“Selfishly, I learned so much through the years of 2015 and 2020 playing on guys like ‘Blitz’, who would just play slightly different to the big, traditional key defender that I would play on.
“You would expect a player that has come from a non-contact sport to still be an elite runner, but struggle with the contact of the sport. He does it as well as anyone I’ve seen in my time.
“His durability just comes down to his mental application. He understands his body and he’s a professional. He’s had his issues, like knee tendinitis, that he’s had to continue to work through. He’s put a hell of a lot of time into his diligence.”
Blicavs shepherds for Dangerfield in their second-ever match together — a NAB Challenge hit out against Essendon in Shepparton at Deakin Resserve on March 5, 2016 (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
After playing against him several times during his time at Adelaide, Blicavs’ current captain Patrick Dangerfield joined him in the hoops at the start of 2016, as Blicavs began transitioning from a ruck option into a key defender.
Dangerfield is one of dozens at the Cats who speak ever so highly of Blicavs’ critical impact culturally, and believes many more personal accolades have been left on the table as a result of his selflessness.
“He’s the most selfless player that I’ve played with,” Dangerfield told Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Tuesday night.
“He’s an extraordinary athlete, and one who has incredible game awareness. What he’s been for us is the ultimate Swiss Army knife. It’s extraordinary when you look through the stats around the versatility; and it’s not over the course of a game here or game there … It’s over the course of 300 games, and the split of defence, midfield, ruck and forward.
“I’ve been fortunate (and unfortunate) to spend some time in the box to watch the game from a different angle in recent times, and the conversations around Blitz are hilarious.
“It’s like: ‘Blitz will just fix that’, and it’s (any) position — whether it’s defence, forward or midfield. He’s this tool the coaches use … he’s been a victim of his incredible versatility. His personal CV is extraordinary, but I think it would’ve been even better had we not been so selfish as a team, because we want him everywhere (and it’s come) at the expense of other personal accolades.
“If he was just booked as a winger, second ruck, or defender, I think he would’ve had more of those rewards. But, the best thing for the team has been to move him.”
Blicavs’ success hit new heights in the year of Geelong’s most recent premiership in 2022, where he arguably played the best of his 14 seasons at AFL level. His 23 disposals — 14 contested, eight tackles, 15 hitouts and a goal in the big dance summed up the kind of season he’d had: Herculean.
The utility had just as much of a claim to being the league’s most valuable player that year, and he was rightly rewarded with his maiden All-Australian jacket after two prior best and fairest awards for the Cats in 2015 and 2018.
Hawkins (left) and Blicavs (right) sing the club song on the MCG after winning the 2022 Toyota AFL Grand Final against Sydney on September 24, 2022 (Photo by Dylan Burns via Getty Images)Source: Getty ImagesBlicavs (left) alongside now-Port Adelaide captain Connor Rozee (right) after being selected in the 2022 AFL All Australian team at Melbourne’s Centrepiece on August 24, 2022 (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Only once in 13 full seasons has Blicavs played less than 20 games in the senior side. That came in 2023, when he played 19.
Dangerfield spoke to the crazy heights his work ethic has hit during his prime, with his aerobic capacity on full display during pre-season — still managing to outshine the best of the best.
“We used to do a 15-minute test, and it was run for 15 minutes. It was hell on Earth running around a 400-metre track,” Dangerfield recounted on AFL 360.
“We’d take off, and probably with five minutes to go, I would see him almost in the peripheral. He’d come past, tap me on the butt, and keep running. I’d be swinging trying to collect him with my arm — always missing him, because he was just gone like ‘Roadrunner’.
“Thankfully, I wasn’t the only person he lapped during those pre-season sessions. But he’s one of the few guys that you can literally rest on the wing.”
Blicavs (right) leads a club’s fitness drill during his early pre-season days at Geelong, at then-Simonds Stadium on November 17, 2014 (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Unsurprisingly, his admirable selflessness also extends to him being one of the great teammates to walk through the doors at Kardinia Park this century.
Blicavs walked through the door barely two months after their 2011 premiership against Collingwood, which saw him land smack bang in between generations at the Cats. Chris Scott was still only very new at the helm, but a number of stalwarts left for different reasons during his early days.
Blicavs was listed with, but never played at the top level alongside the likes of Matthew Scarlett or David Wojcinski. He played a single season of AFL with Paul Chapman and James Podsiadly before they were traded elsewhere, while Joel Corey retired at the end of 2013 in the same season.
So, in the same way he’s been used as a connector on-field his entire career, Blicavs has been a connector off-field with young and old.
“He’s just been so reliable for the coaches, the coaching staff, but also as a teammate. He has been the greatest connector across all groups and age levels — he’s the uniting face. Even at his ripe old age of 34, he’s still able to do that incredibly well, like few I’ve seen,” Hawkins told foxfooty.com.au.
“He’s been amazing on the field, but culturally, a real integral piece of what Geelong’s been able to do in his time in the game.”
“Just like his ability to play multiple positions, he connects and leads in so many ways. There are a lot of local Geelong kids at the club, but there’s also a lot of young men that come from all over Australia.
“Mitch Edwards, Lawson Humphries, Connor O’Sullivan, Shannon Neale… Some of the guys that come in certainly haven’t been to Geelong before, and where it is in Victoria.
“Away from the club, he’s amazing in supporting, connecting and bringing people together. He always has time for everyone, and does that side of life as well as I’ve ever seen anyone.”
No one has come close to doing the AFL path like Blicavs, and at age 35, he remarkably still shows no signs of slowing down heading into a milestone match that deserves to be celebrated as much as any.