NORTH Melbourne coaching great Denis Pagan famously says of John Blakey that he's the sort of bloke you'd want your daughter to marry.
Will Sydney coach John Longmire be saying the same thing about Nick Blakey?
The younger Blakey laughed when asked the question, but all he wants to do is start proving himself as an AFL player.
"I'm not too sure about that – Denis did say that about Dad," Nick said.
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"Hopefully he (Longmire) says it about me – it means I'm a good bloke – but I just head into the club on Monday and try to earn everyone's respect, go from there".
John Blakey enjoyed an outstanding AFL career, playing 135 games for Fitzroy and then 224 for North Melbourne, including the 1996 and '99 premierships under Pagan.
Blakey is a highly respected figure around the AFL and Pagan has said the "marrying your daughter" comment more than once.
He has spent more than a decade at Sydney in coaching and development roles.
"I definitely wouldn't be the player I am now if it wasn't for my old man," Nick said.
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"If I can be half the player he is, I will be extremely happy ... that's still more than 150 games."
Rather than going to Brisbane or North as a father-son pick, Nick decided he wanted to join Sydney as a graduate from its player academy.
Blakey was one of the best forwards in this year's draft and, as expected, the Swans recruited him in the first round.
Through no fault of his own, there was some controversy surrounding Blakey's selection.
The Swans exploited the new live trading system with a couple of eyebrow-raising deals involving West Coast, to effectively reduce what it would take to recruit Blakey.
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He will work alongside star forward Lance Franklin and they already know each other, with Blakey doing injury rehab at Sydney this season.
Franklin, this year's All Australian captain, famously said his team instruction would be "kick it to me" and Blakey knows exactly where he stands.
"Hopefully, he can teach me a thing or two," Blakey said.
"It's going to be a daunting thing, that Bud's going to be a teammate, but it's something I'm looking forward to.
"If I'm out there I will be kicking it to him, that's for sure."
