What Blicavs would be doing if he never chose footy

Current star and future winemaker Mark Blicavs this week becomes just the eighth Geelong player to reach 300 games.

The former middle-distance runner (just don’t call him a ‘steeplechaser’) reflects on his remarkable journey with family friend and former football journalist Ben Guthrie.

Ben Guthrie: ‘Blitz’, we’ve known each other since our four-year-old library group growing up in Sunbury (a suburb 45 minutes north-west of Melbourne), but it’s still hard to believe you don’t order eggs with your breakfast!

Mark Blicavs: Why order the eggs when you can have a hash brown, sausage, bacon, avocado and tomato relish on toast, Benjamin!

BG: Anyway, enough about your dislike for eggs. I’m here to interview you about your journey to 300 AFL games and hopefully reminisce about some of your favourite memories. Be honest, when we were running around for the Sunbury Lions under-11s, was a professional football career ever in your thinking?

MB: No way. I was having fun playing junior footy with you and getting coached by your Dad (Andrew Guthrie, who played six VFL/AFL games for Fitzroy and Essendon in the 1980s). And then I played one year at Taylors Lakes in the under-14s. But basketball and athletics were always my passion.

BG: You did finish second in the RDJFL (Riddell District Junior Football League) best and fairest in 2002, behind former Port Adelaide player Mitch Banner, the year we played together, so why didn’t you continue to play footy?

MB: I’m pretty happy with that achievement, Benny (laughs). I liked footy, but I liked basketball and athletics more. It was as simple as that.

BG: Athletics was clearly something you loved from a young age. I have vivid memories of people gathering around the high jump mat at Sunbury Little Athletics track to watch you compete. And I know you still hold several club records to this day. So, when the opportunity with Geelong arose, what made you seriously entertain it?

MB: I’d chosen athletics and I’d been trying to do that as my sport of choice consistently for three or four years. And then, in early 2011, I was asked if I wanted to do a trial at Geelong through your Dad (father and manager of premiership teammate Cameron Guthrie) who had spoken with ‘Wellsy’ (Geelong recruiter Stephen Wells) about me. Early on, I remember saying, ‘No, athletics is my focus, and I don’t want any distractions’. Then a call came later in the year, and I saw Geelong had won the flag (in 2011) so I thought I’d see what a trial looks like. It went well and I ended up saying yes, because the club allowed me to continue to pursue athletics for that next season, in 2012.

BG: So if Geelong hadn’t allowed you to continue to pursue a career in athletics in 2012, you wouldn’t have gone down the football route?

MB: Early in 2012, I was able to focus 70 per cent of my energy on athletics and 30 per cent on footy, which allowed me to scratch that itch with athletics. But once I did make the call to leave athletics, move down to Geelong and start playing footy I was like, ‘This is it. I’ve made the decision, I’m going to do everything to make this work’.

BG: So you travelled and competed at athletics meets around Europe in the first half of 2012 and then rocked up at Geelong in June later that year. What were your first impressions of a professional AFL environment?

MB: I completed a mini pre-season before playing four games in the VFL. It didn’t really worry me that I was dropped for the VFL finals because I wasn’t expecting to play. But at our exit meetings, the coaching staff asked me what my goals for the next year were. I’m not sure if I had much support from the coaching staff, but I said, ‘I want to be considered for an AFL game’.

BG: At the start of the next season, you were Geelong’s first-choice ruckman, with Dawson Simpson, Trent West, Hamish McIntosh and Nathan Vardy all unavailable due to injury. How did you approach that opportunity?

MB: I knew I was pretty much guaranteed five games in a row. My teammates must have found me pretty annoying. I was asking a lot of questions and constantly looking for feedback. But I think they understood that I was trying to apply myself and get better. Once you do that and you start to improve, the respect comes from that.

BG: Who did you look to for feedback in those first couple of years? And how did you look to apply some of your biggest strengths – like your running power – out on the field?

MB: The three biggest were development coach Max Rooke and teammates Harry Taylor and Andrew Mackie. I was pestering Harry and ‘Mack’ with questions. I’m sure a few of them thought I wouldn’t make it. Joel Selwood always used to tell me he thought I would be gone within six months (laughs). Harry would tell me to go into games with two or three simple focus areas, depending on what position I was playing. Harry kept the game simple for me.

BG: In my eyes, you’re one of the most versatile players to have ever played the game and you’ve won two best and fairest awards as a pseudo-midfielder/second ruckman (2015) and then as a defender (2018) to prove that. How do you switch between all the positions you’re asked to play?

MB: As a young player, it’s handy to be able to learn how to play in multiple positions. I have simple focuses when I’m switching between positions in-game. As a key back, I want to defend first and be aware of my positioning. As a winger, I’m thinking about where I need to set up and how I can have impact on each contest. I relish being the go-to-guy where if we need to make a positional change, then I can be a piece that’s moved around.

BG: You’ve still got a bit of footy left, but what do you look back on as the fondest memory of your career?

MB: The premiership in 2022. We had a heap of close-call losses in the lead-up to that with essentially the same core group of players. Having those preliminary final losses and losing the Grand Final (to Richmond) in 2020 made that so meaningful and was just an accumulation of all the hard work we had put in. Seeing Cam (Guthrie) run off the bench and hugging him as the siren went was just such a crazy, surreal moment because of how close we are and the role your family played in getting me into footy.

BG: What do you think you would be doing now if you didn’t take up that opportunity with Geelong back in 2011?

MB: Great question. I would have hoped that I had a semi-successful athletics career in middle-distance running, not the steeplechase. You know I can’t stand the steeplechase, Benny. I had finished my Diploma of Remedial Massage pre-footy, so I would have loved to have worked as a sports therapist with a cycling team and travelled around Europe on the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France circuit.

BG: How important have your Mum and Dad (Karen and Andris Blicavs, who both represented Australia in basketball), siblings (Kris and Sara) and your fiancée, Georgia, been during your career?

MB: My family keep me grounded. Anytime Kris and Sara think I’m getting too big for my boots, they’ll bring me down to earth. Mum and Dad have been massive in introducing me to sport and teaching me how to be competitive and work hard. They come to every Victorian-based game and travel to some interstate games and along with Georgia they’re always in the rooms post-game. Mum, Dad and Georgia have been great in their support and providing important advice where it’s needed.

BG: What are your plans once your footy career comes to an end? A bit more travelling and I know you’re studying Viticulture, so maybe something in the wine industry?

MB: I would love to be in the wine industry. Ideally if I could be a winemaker and open my own vineyard that would be amazing. There will be plenty of travel. At this stage, I don’t think I’ll be involved in the footy industry. I’m excited for a new chapter.

BG: Last one from me. What would you say to the 12-year-old kid who was running from house-to-house on his paper round around Sunbury as a training session?

MB: I’m a big believer in that if you don’t know something ask; someone will always help you. So I would say to him to keep being curious and ask questions and keep wanting to know more. I’ll reflect a little more on my career when I retire, but, for now, I’m looking to enjoy my footy and stay in the moment.

BG: Congratulations Mark. 300 games is such an incredible achievement. I’ve been in the stands to watch most of your first 299 and I’ll be there again for the big milestone. Go well!

MB: Thanks Benny. Appreciate all of your support over the years.

Ben Guthrie worked as a journalist for AFL.com.au and the AFL Record from 2012 to 2019. He remains in the football industry, currently working for community mental health program Tackle Your Feelings and as an assistant coach with Geelong Grammar School’s football program.