Blake Lawrie

[Mojo]

We need much more of this. Not virtue signalling, but our new media guy needs to make this sort of story his primary focus IMO. There’s a lot of really positive stuff that happens behind the scenes in RL but we rarely hear about it.

 

[kit66]

It's good to hear positive stories like this and the boys visiting country areas and schools, good work.

I think we'll see a big effort from Blake in 2023. I was going over our last 6 or 7 games and his stats were on the improve, minutes played, metres gained (must have averaged 130-140 mpg from his last 6 games), tackles made. Really lifted his work rate. Needs to keep working on his defence though, along with the rest of the team some really poor reads and arm grabbing. An improvement in that area and some dominating performances could catch the eye of the SOO selectors. Really, he should be leading our pack along with JDB, he'll be 26 come kick off next year, his best is ahead of him. We hope.

On a similar note, Su'a was awesome all year but particularly in the last quarter, topping the tackle count may times and making great metres. He's stepped right into Sims boots as our enforcer and he'll only get better.

 

[SEAT 1A]

Champion bloke.

One small phone call however, the young bloke will never forget it.

 

[SnowDragon]

Met Blake near the League club. He came across as a genuine guy, signed a picture for my young bloke. Club May have arranged the call, but it fits me image of the guy.

and again, yes, we need good stories, not just rape charges , bbq sagas and hammers etc.

 

[getsmarty]

Lawrie eyes balanced workload, NSW Origin calculations

Blake Lawrie has set his sights on becoming a genuine NSW State of Origin contender, while eying off a more manageable workload at St George Illawarra.

www.espn.com

 

[BLM01]

Lawrie eyes balanced workload, NSW Origin calculations

Blake Lawrie has set his sights on becoming a genuine NSW State of Origin contender, while eying off a more manageable workload at St George Illawarra.

www.espn.com

Oh dear..last thing that should be entering his mind is thinking about origin and the media run with that
He is a long way from that especially if he plays only 25 mins
We saw what origin talk did to Lomax & Aitken when spruiked too early

 

[Trifili13]

While Lawrie is a solid player for us, he is no world beater and doubt he can keep up with the pace that SOO games are played at. I think I have more chance of playing SOO than him.

 

[SnowDragon]

I’ll accept some positive ambition from players, as long as they keep it in check.

 

[Walpole]

I like Blake but it all seems a little contradictory. Doesn't feel he can play 51 minutes a game in the NRL but is ready for origin.

 

[since77]

Hmm this is the same guy who confidently predicts each year we're going to be in the top four. My god Blake's so far from being a rep level player its not funny.
Just concentrate on being a solid NRL forward first Blake.........

 

[redV06]

Why we picking on Blake?? He’s just being ambitious talking about rep footy. Good on him. He’s gives 110% every week, he’ll make a lot of people eat their words. Wasn’t he our best player last season.

 

[Victoire]

It was obviously a leading question, how would you expect him to answer it? He gave the standard response but then followed with success at the Dragons was his focus. Amazing how easily people get hooked on that bait

 

[TheRev]

it's always a leading question to generate a headline.. but fans fall for it every time.. so they keep doing it.

 

[since77]

Wasn’t he our best player last season.

Probably a good indicator of why we narrowly avoided the spoon last year. His "110% effort" equals about 50% the impact of the better NRL forwards.
I sincerely hope Flanno can help him improve and will gladly eat my words if he does - but so far Blake's been average.

 

[Wolfgang90]

He wants to play rep footy but firstly finals footy for the dragons. Love to hear that. As fans isn't that what you want to hear from players? Helping their club first & then eyeing off higher honours.

The most important part of that article is him knowing that he's more effective playing shorter mins & that's what he's going to be doing this season. I think 30 - 40mins game time is ideal for him. 2 x 15-30mins stints.

He says they feel like we have more quality in the fwd pack so he doesn't have to play 50+mins.

Imo rotate him & frank molo, both should be playing similar mins & be seen as impact forwards. Our only forwards playing close to 50-60ish mins should be JDB & possibly Sele because of their excellent defence.

 

[Victoire]

Lawrie may not be an absolute elite prop (yet) but he's well above average. With good coaching and better support around him he'll keep improving too so I don't think we've seen his best yet.

2023 stats

Runs per game: Lawrie clearly our #1, #4 prop in the league
Avg tackles per game: #3 for us, #5 prop in the league
Avg Run metres: Lawrie our #1 forward - #9 prop across the league
Post contact metres: Lawrie was our #1 forward, and #10 prop across the league

He doesn't make the post contact metres of the likes of Haas or AFB but they don't work as hard as he does in defence

 

[redV06]

Probably a good indicator of why we narrowly avoided the spoon last year. His "110% effort" equals about 50% the impact of the better NRL forwards.
I sincerely hope Flanno can help him improve and will gladly eat my words if he does - but so far Blake's been average.

Blake is just playing in a below average team. He’s far from average as an individual. I’m not saying he’s an elite level prop, there’s others with higher profiles that should come under more scrutiny then what he does.

 

[Auntie.Gerald]

I thought we started to see the making of Blake mid way through 2023 right to the end

I must admit I am quite hopeful that with the right spearhead prop next to him in 2025 he will be of great value and service to our pack. He will equally be very important to our 2024 campaign.

The guy is not athletic but he is dogged and NRL smart with all the little things that make metres and slow down his opposite props week in week out.......... but as mentioned above I was genuinely happy to see him feature in the top10 of NRL props statistically for 2023..............albeit the distance between the top5 and the top10 is quite a void to cross to be elite ! It is seriously a big gap when you review say AFBs stats vs Blakes. Hence our serious interest at $1.2m pa !

But still stats not to be sniffed at and a upward trajectory to the right for Blake on all accounts is a great building block for 2024 and what it might bring for him at our prop rotation:

Runs per game: Lawrie clearly our #1, #4 prop in the league (yeah getting out of our half was a bitch)
Avg tackles per game: #3 for us, #5 prop in the league (we did do a stack of tackling vs the top teams)
Avg Run metres: Lawrie our #1 forward - #9 prop across the league (he did run those funny legs alot)
Post contact metres: Lawrie was our #1 forward, and #10 prop across the league (surprised me and amazing effort)

 

[isaiah]

While Lawrie is a solid player for us, he is no world beater and doubt he can keep up with the pace that SOO games are played at. I think I have more chance of playing SOO than him.

You would fit right in.

 

[slippery5]

I was thinking Lawrie looks 10 kilos lighter in Current training photo posts.