"A reality check": Blanchfield opens up on Perth exit

As a mainstay in the NBL for over a decade, a Boomers representative, an All-NBL Team nominee, and a former Most Improved Player winner, Todd Blanchfield is used to not only having the ball thrown his way, but also being a major contributor to winning.

Blanchfield is a veteran of almost 400 NBL appearances across 14 years. In his time with Townsville, Melbourne, Sydney, Illawarra and Perth, he has established himself as one of the top spot up shooting wings this league has ever produced, but NBL23 represented a new experience for the FIBA Asia Cup winner.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">AJ meets the Snakepit ?? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HawkNation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HawkNation</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZEkWngVZCs">pic.twitter.com/ZEkWngVZCs</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1686628491234779136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Perth Wildcats stumbled through the opening stanza of last season, and as a second straight season without post-season basketball became a clear possibility head coach John Rillie made some judgement calls. Blanchfield was sat at the end of the bench for much of the final third of the season – alongside two-time NBL champion guard Mitch Norton.

His mark of 4.4 points per game was his lowest scoring output since his 2010-11 sophomore season with Townsville, and commentators noted their disappointment when the beleaguered wing was only afforded a junk final 30 seconds of a game at points throughout the season.

Perth ended up scraping in to the final Play-In spot on percentage alone, and edged out Blanchfield’s former side Melbourne in the process. They suffered eventual elimination at the hands of the Cairns Taipans and, despite being contracted for the following two seasons, the 31-year-old was moved on.

Blanchfield is now back with Illawarra, and will look to become a key piece in the side’s attempted bounce-back from its historically poor record of 3-25 last season.

It’s one of those things that it’s something you’ve done for so long and then it’s taken out of your control, it kind of opens something within you. It’s almost like a reality check in a way,” Blanchfield told NBL Media.

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“I never, ever take what I do for granted. I wake up every day and I’m excited to go to try and get better, I love what I do, and I love my job.

“When that competitive side of it through playing games is taken away it’s kind of something that now, when I step on the floor I never know when it’s going to be the last time, I know that sounds dramatic – I’m speaking like I’m 40 years old and it could be my last year – but when it’s taken away you realise you do miss doing it.

“I’ve never taken it for granted, but when it’s out of your control it makes it a little harder.”

Despite their dismal NBL23 record, Jacob Jackomas and the Hawks have had no problem in both attracting and keeping some heavy-hitters in the context of the wider competition.

Blanchfield previously represented the Hawks between 2018 and 2020.

Co-captains Sam Froling and Tyler Harvey never made any noise about wanting to jump ship, and never complained about the difficult situation the club found itself in last season, while injured guard Justin Robinson did not hesitate in putting pen to paper on a contract extension.

The club reportedly overcame heavy interest from around the competition to sign import forward Gary Clark, while collegiate star Lachlan Olbrich and Next Star AJ Johnson represent two of the most exciting talents that are set to hit the floor next season.

NBL analyst Liam Santamaria has already gone on record with how impressed he was with the Hawks’ fight last season, and Blanchfield says Illawarra’s ability to stay competitive in the face of adversity was a key factor in his decision to return to the club.

“I’ve been a part of groups where you just feel like there’s a new injury happening each week – and you never wish that upon anybody – but that’s the way sport goes sometimes,” he said.

“It would have been hard for those guys, but the fight they had in them was something you knew they were going to come out and give it everything they had every game.

“They were extremely undermanned and had guys playing out of position, but they were still in the majority of the games, even towards the end of the season.

“They had that big win over New Zealand which, for me, shows that a lot of guys on a lot of teams would have been thinking ‘there’s one more game to get through and then it’s all over’, but you could see within those guys they really wanted to win and the competitiveness was still there.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">TYLER HARVEY TO WIN THE GAME. HE IS MAGIC ?<br><br>UNRIVALLED DRAMA<br><br>WHAT A GAME OF NBL BASKETBALL ? <a href="https://t.co/218UNw8XkS">pic.twitter.com/218UNw8XkS</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1615989417155637250?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“It was really cool to see.

“New Zealand went to the Championship Series and were the second-best team in the league at the end of the day. To be able to get that win, undermanned and at the end of the season, they could have rolled over, but credit is due to all those guys and the coaching staff for sticking with it.”

That difficult campaign is now firmly in the rear-view mirror for the Hawks though, but with plenty of last season’s roster still remaining – it can be assumed that fighting culture will still be firmly entrenched within this new look Hawks group.

“I really like the group Jacob and the assistants have put together and I think we’re really going to surprise a few teams this year,” Blanchfield said.

“We’re young, but I feel like we’ve got that veteran experience as well that complements it really well.

“I’m looking forward to getting down there and starting to build something.”

Before Blanchfield links up with his new side though, he has to finish contending the NBL1 North Grand Final Series with the Gold Coast Rollers.

The star wing has teamed up with Jason Cadee against Nathan Sobey, Kyrin Galloway, Jaylin Galloway and the Ipswich Force – and took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series last night, in part due to Blanchfield’s 27-point, 14 rebound performance.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">1? win away from back-to-back titles ?<br><br>The Gold Coast Rollers made a statement against the stacked Ipswich Force in Game One ?<br><br>Tune in tomorrow for Game Two Live &amp; Free from 7:30pm AEST via Kayo Freebies ? <a href="https://t.co/e8WvWYZrGs">pic.twitter.com/e8WvWYZrGs</a></p>&mdash; NBL1 (@NBL1) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL1/status/1687419828712472576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Game 2 is set to tip off tonight at 7:30pm AEST, live on Kayo Freebies, with a potential decisive Game 3 slated for Sunday afternoon.

Illawarra’s NBL24 campaign will kick off against the Sydney  Kings on Saturday, September 30.