Chris Scott recalls the chance of Mark Blicavs making it as an AFL player was the “longest of long shots” when he first arrived at Geelong.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, the odds on the former middle-distance runner reaching 300 games would have been astronomical.<\/p>\n
“It’s remarkable for anyone, but the way Mark’s done it is next level in sport,” Cats coach Scott said ahead of Blicavs’ milestone match against the Western Bulldogs on Friday night.<\/p>\n
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“He’s hating all this (attention) and I respect it in a way … but it’s worth just pausing ever so briefly to recognise the great moments in the journey.”<\/p>\n
The story behind Blicavs’ evolution from left-field recruit to Geelong premiership star, All-Australian and two-time best-and-fairest winner is well known.<\/p>\n
But Scott would need hours to detail the full appreciation insiders have for a man who has helped mould the Cats’ envied culture on the way to becoming the eighth player in club history to reach 300 games.<\/p>\n
“This guy that when he started had no idea about the game is now shaping the way we think about the game,” Scott said.<\/p>\n
“To a large extent, who he is has influenced who we all are now, which is pretty impressive for one player.”<\/p>\n
On the field, Blicavs has set the standard as football’s ultimate Swiss Army knife, having filled just about every position on the ground since walking in to Kardinia Park 14 years ago.<\/p>\n
Mark Blicavs ahead of game 300.\u00a0Photo by Robert Cianflone\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
“A lot of people now think about tall players who can really run and compare them to ‘Blitz’,” Scott said.<\/p>\n
“The height is obviously an advantage in some aspects of the game, but for a midfielder it can be a disadvantage as well.<\/p>\n
“So being tall and able to run is about 10 percent of what ‘Blitz’ is. The rest was leading by example and the appetite to learn.”<\/p>\n
The weekly debate about where on the ground Blicavs should play against a particular opponent appears justified when even the man himself can’t quite pinpoint his preferred position.<\/p>\n
“I like to be around the ball, so that mid, wing, ruck — around there,” Blicavs said.<\/p>\n
“I like running around doing what I think the game needs at the moment.<\/p>\n
“I’ve worked on my game well enough that if we need a bit more of a defensive or attacking look, I’ve sort of got that licence a bit.”<\/p>\n
Blicavs has arguably changed the game in more ways than one; not only with his versatility and running power.<\/p>\n
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He is also claiming responsibility for the third man up in ruck contests being banned.<\/p>\n
“That was a bit of a cheat code; just pretend you’re a midfielder and then hit the third man up,” Blicavs said with a grin.<\/p>\n
“I had to sort of reinvent myself a bit. My career was nearly done when that rule got flicked off.<\/p>\n
“We like different tactics and testing the rules … it’s good.”<\/p>\n
Blicavs, 35, doesn’t expect he’ll hang up the boots any time soon, declaring he’s still motivated and enjoying football enough to continue in 2027.<\/p>\n
His coach reckons there’s plenty left in the tank.<\/p>\n
“It’s maybe a little pessimistic — one year. I’d add a least a plural to that,” Scott said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Scott recalls the chance of Mark Blicavs making it as an AFL player was the “longest of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-607328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}