Blake Caracella
Personal information
Full name	Blake Caracella
Birth	15 March 1977 (1977-03-15) (age 32)
Place of birth	Melbourne, Victoria
Recruited from	St Marys (VMFL)/Northern U18
Draft	10th overall, 1995 Essendon 2nd overall, 2004 Pre-Season Draft Collingwood
Height	186cm
Weight	85kg
Playing Career
Club
Years	Team	Pld	G
1997–2002	Essendon	126	151
2003–2004	Brisbane Lions	34	33
2005–2006	Collingwood	27	34
	Total	187	218

Blake Caracella (born 15 March 1977) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.

[edit] Essendon career

Selected by Essendon in the 1995 National Draft at pick 10, Caracella finally debuted with the Bombers in 1997. What had held him back was his lack of bulk - he came to the club weighing only 74 kg - however he rectified this by pushing his playing weight up to 83 kg prior to his AFL debut. Caracella quickly established himself in the side as a skilful small forward/goalsneak, who had patience and poise. He earned himself an AFL Rising Star nomination for his work.

He was a vital part of Essendon's premiership win in 2000, contributing 35 goals for the season. At the end of 2002 he was controversially traded to the Brisbane Lions.^[1]

[edit] Brisbane career

Caracella's stay in Brisbane only lasted two years, during which he played 34 games, including the Lions' 2003 premiership winning team and also their unsuccessful 2004 AFL Grand Final side. Reasons cited for his trade from both Essendon and Brisbane was to ease the strain of salary cap restrictions at both clubs.^[2]

[edit] Collingwood career

He selected by Collingwood in the 2005 Pre-season draft, the team that he used to follow as a child.

In 2005 Caracella had a solid year at Collingwood (apart from a lean patch in the final 7 rounds where he only managed 3 goals, as well as missing Round 20), booting 34 goals in total and finished tenth in the Copeland Trophy.

[edit] Injury and retirement

In 2006, Caracella suffered a career-ending neck injury. Whilst contesting a loose ball against the Lions, Caracella slipped and former teammate Tim Notting's hip accidentally collected his head, fracturing several vertebrae and bruising his spinal cord. At the time field umpire Brett Allen did not consider the contact sufficient enough to award a free kick for high contact. The injury horrified the football community, drawing comparisons to the quadriplegia suffered by Footscray's Neil Sachse in the 1970s.^[3]

On Wednesday, August 2, Caracella announced his retirement. At the press conference, Caracella revealed that scans had shown his spinal column was naturally narrower than average.^[4] This condition would have ruled out a career in any professional contact sport had it been diagnosed earlier.^[5]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Blake Caracella profile on the Official AFL Website of the Collingwood Football Club
• Blake Caracella profile on the Official AFL Website of the Brisbane Lions Football Club
• Blake Caracella's statistics from AFL Tables