Goals clear for Freo's Blakely

Entering the promised land has never been easy - just ask Moses - or the Fremantle Dockers.

For the Dockers, it's all about holding up for the first time that elusive Premiership Cup - the holy grail of the Australian Football League.

No doubt that dream of triumph was a big factor in captain Matthew Pavlich's decision to play again when most people were expecting him to join classy defender Luke McPharlin in retirement.

But it won't be Pavlich or David Mundy, Michael Johnson or even captain-in-waiting Nat Fyfe who deliver the Dockers into the land of promise.

Sure, they have critical roles to play, but if the Dockers are going to bridge the small but significant gap to ultimate success, it will be the club's exciting band of young players who get them there.

They are the ones with unfulfilled potential and they are the ones Freo fans will be hoping can put the polish on a game plan that has fallen agonisingly, but consistently short of the AFL benchmark - Hawthorn.

It is a responsibility not lost on Connor Blakely, who has been enjoying some time off at home in Bunbury after playing most of the 2015 season for the Dockers' WAFL-aligned Peel Thunder Football Club.

"It's very exciting working with all the young guys at Peel," Blakely said. "We're all on the same page and we all want to be part of bringing success to Fremantle.

"It's a collective. Everyone has a role and everyone wants to get better."

Blakely lives with fellow 2014 draftees Lachie Weller and Ed Langdon and while he says there is a healthy rivalry, there is also plenty of support as they push for the club's first premiership.

Blakely made his AFL debut in round 23 against Port Adelaide when coach Ross Lyon rested a host of senior players in preparation for the finals.

Blakely said it was the culmination of a season spent learning the ropes.

"It was a bit of a crazy day, but it was still great to get the chance," he said. "It just made me want success more and I can't wait to get back into it.

"When you are drafted by a high performing team like Freo the only expectation when you get there is just doing your best.

"So much of the first year is getting your head around the game plan."

With that first year behind him, Blakely is motivated and prepared better than ever to have an impact.

"I've done a lot of hard work in the first year and it doesn't go away," he said.

"All the hard work from 2015 I take into next year.

"Now I know where I am at and I know the game plan, I can concentrate on just getting better."

After last season, Blakely reported to Lyon and football operations manager Chris Bond who encouraged him to get ready for a big second year at the club.

"They said I showed a bit and were happy with how I was going," Blakely said.

"They wanted us all to come back to training in good shape and I can't wait to get started."

Blakely is confident he will be ready for the start of pre-season on November 23 with his "holiday" including training five times a week, with just the weekends off.

There's no slacking off for this self-driven former South West Academy of Sport scholarship holder - he is well aware of the cutthroat nature of the AFL.

"The draft is such a lottery," he said.

"I'm just grateful to have been picked up.

"Most players only get one chance at this so I'm not letting anything get in my way.

"At this point of my life it is my focus and I'm giving it everything I've got.

"I wouldn't want to do anything else."

Blakely is not buying into the theory that Fremantle have missed their premiership window and he is confident their best is still to come.

"People have said we are too old," he said.

"But Ross is always stressing about how important it is for us to write our own story.

"We can't accept what other people are saying.

"By our performances we will create our own story."

Fremantle Docker and former Bunbury footballer Connor Blakely speaks to Nick Long about his first season of AFL football and his hopes for 2016…