Phil Blake

  • Playing Career

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Born
Sunday, 24th November, 1963
Current Age
60 years and 116 days

Awards & Accolades

Dally M Rookie Of The Year
1982
Dally M Five-Eighth Of The Year
1989

Biography

Manly junior burst onto the league scene as an 18-year-old halfback in 1982. Blake was a brilliant prospect, possessing a perfect chip-kick, with great anticipation and positional play, and was unlucky not to tour with the Kangaroos that year. A try-scorer in Manly's grand final loss to P’matta in 1982 (and 'Dally M' Rookie of the Year), he scored a club record 27 tries fin the 1983 season. Under coach Bob Fulton in 1983-84, Blake's defensive lapses were exposed and after persevering as a winger, he went to England (Warrington 1985-86) before switching to Souths where he secured his favoured five-eighth role. His career at Souths brought momentary stability, including State of Origin selection as a reserve in 1989. Blake left Souths the following year but despite scoring over 100 first grade tries, failed to re-establish a first-grade place at either Norths (1991) or Canberra (1992). Lining up with St George, Blake produced glimpses of his old magic in 1993, including an appearance in the grand final against Brisbane, but the 1994 season was unrewarding. Blake joined his sixth Sydney premiership club, the Auckland Warriors, in 1995 and scored the club's first premiership try in the 25-22 loss to Brisbane. He returned to Manly at the beginning of 1998 and trained with the club pre-season before announcing his retirement. Blake was later assistant coach to Craig Coleman at Souths in 2002-03.
- ALAN WHITICKER

Playing Career Statistics

All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.

To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.

Competitions

Competition   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
NRL 271 138 8   15 574 153 114 4 56.46% List
NRL Finals 14 9 -   3 35 6 8 0 42.86% List
National Panasonic Cup 12 20 0   3 78 7 4 1 58.33% List
Lancashire Cup 8 7 -   - 28 5 3 0 62.50% List
English Championship 33 29 13   3 145 20 13 0 60.61% List
Regal Trophy 8 7 -   - 28 6 2 0 75.00% List
Challenge Cup 4 4 -   1 17 4 0 0 100.00% List
City vs Country 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List
State of Origin 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List
Tour Matches Wigan Warriors 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List
Tooheys Challenge Cup 1 2 -   - 8 0 1 0 0.00% List


Representative

Australia - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
NSW City 1988 1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List
NSW 1989 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List
Overall1988-1989 2 0 0   0 - 1 1 0 50.00% List


Club Career

NRL/NSWRL - By Year

Team Season App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Manly NSWRFL 1982 14 9 -   2 29 8 6 0 57.14% List
Manly NSWRFL 1983 24 27 -   2 110 20 4 0 83.33% List
Manly NSWRL 1984 24 11 -   - 44 13 11 0 54.17% List
Manly NSWRL 1985 16 3 -   1 13 8 7 1 50.00% List
Manly NSWRL 1986 25 13 -   2 54 14 10 1 56.00% List
Souths NSWRL 1987 15 5 -   4 24 7 8 0 46.67% List
Souths NSWRL 1988 20 14 -   1 57 11 8 1 55.00% List
Souths NSWRL 1989 21 12 6 / 11 54.55% - 60 16 5 0 76.19% List
Souths NSWRL 1990 19 6 2 / 3 66.67% 1 29 2 17 0 10.53% List
North Sydney NSWRL 1991 11 1 -   1 5 8 2 1 72.73% List
Canberra NSWRL 1992 16 5 -   1 21 9 7 0 56.25% List
St George NSWRL 1993 20 8 -   - 32 15 5 0 75.00% List
St George NSWRL 1994 9 7 -   - 28 5 4 0 55.56% List
Auckland ARL 1995 17 14 -   - 56 9 8 0 52.94% List
Auckland ARL 1996 18 3 -   - 12 8 10 0 44.44% List
Auckland Super League 1997 2 - -   - - 0 2 0 0.00% List

NRL/NSWRL - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Manly 1982-86 103 63 -   7 250 63 38 2 61.17% List
Souths 1987-90 75 37 8 / 14 57.14% 6 170 36 38 1 48.00% List
North Sydney 1991 11 1 -   1 5 8 2 1 72.73% List
Canberra 1992 16 5 -   1 21 9 7 0 56.25% List
St George 1993-94 29 15 -   - 60 20 9 0 68.97% List
Warriors 1995-97 37 17 -   - 68 17 20 0 45.95% List
Overall1982-1997 271 138 8   15 574 153 114 4 56.46% List

English Career - By Year

Team Season App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Warrington 1985/86 19 22 -   1 89 13 6 0 68.42% List
Warrington 1988/89 24 18 -   3 75 14 10 0 58.33% List
Wigan 1989/90 10 7 13   - 54 8 2 0 80.00% List

English Career - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Warrington 1985, 1988 43 40 -   4 164 27 16 0 62.79% List
Wigan 1989 10 7 13   - 54 8 2 0 80.00% List
Overall1985-1990 53 47 13   4 218 35 18 0 66.04% List

Your Say

  • Ian Ann Away
    29/03/2014

    Great maneuverability. Could easily have played for an additional 5 or 6 clubs!

  • Alan Jones
    29/03/2015

    Was also a good accomplished junior cricketer who could have easily become a rep player at state level and maybe higher

  • Pete
    16/12/2017

    Played for more clubs than a bad Elvis impersonator but he was such a dynamic entertaining player. Remember the 82 season when he took the competition by storm. Very unlucky throughout his career not to make rep teams. Explosive speed and skill ,great to watch.

  • Anonymous
    28/03/2020

    Should have played more rep footy

  • Anonymous
    11/04/2021

    Did he kick goals with either foot, a la the 1980s player, Mike Eden?

  • Joel
    29/07/2022

    Seriously underrated player. when people talk of the best halves of the 80's you sadly never hear his name mentioned. perhaps the fact he became a bit of a journeyman & never won a premiership may count against him in this debate but I defy anyone to tell me he wasnt up there with the best during his prime

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Contributions: Rugby League Tables, AJ Lucantonio, Andrew Ferguson, Shawn Dollin, Paul Carter, Alan Katzmann, Steven Russo, Greg Fiveash, Max Turner, Bill Bates

Sources: ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1997, ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1996, NRL Rugby League Yearbook 1998, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1989-90, Match Video, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1987-88, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1988-89, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1990-91, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1991-92, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1992-93, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1994, ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1995, Irvin Saxton's Record Keepers' Club, Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1989-90, Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1990-91, Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1986-87, Newspapers