When the Swans take on Carlton at the Docklands you will see both Brownlow medallists in the centre square at some stage but Blakey believes the pair will not oppose each other.
In just three short years, footy has become a more defensive game, Blakey says.
“Footy has changed. You won’t see champions such as Goodes and Judd run head to head anymore. They will both cop heavy tags and try their best to break free,” he said.
The performance of both champions will be vital to either side’s chances of winning and a victory for Carlton will go a long way to ensuring their first action in September since 2001. Meanwhile, a defeat for the Swans would probably mean they will miss their first finals since 2002.
“We always try to win and we haven’t missed the finals since Paul Roos took over as coach and we want to keep it that way,” Blakey said.
“The key to winning will be to stop Judd who gets a lot of hard ball these days and also the outside run of Marc Murphy and Bryce Gibbs.
“We need to cut off the supply to Brendan Fevola who is obviously in outstanding form. We don’t want a shootout. That is not our style and we will concentrate heavily on winning the ball from stoppages.
“Of course, we need to make good use of the ball and ensure Goodes and Ryan O’Keefe, who has taken his footy to another level in the past month since playing regularly in the midfield, are getting plenty of it.”
Blakey sees Craig Bolton as a natural match-up for Fevola but says Lewis Roberts-Thomson could also fill the role during the match.
“Those two players are the obvious candidates but other players will drop back to help out. The key all day will be defensive pressure.
“We are quietly confident going into the match.”
The Swans ran out 17-point victors in their last encounter at the SCG in round four this year.
