‘Stay ready, your time will come’

‘Stay ready, your time will come’ is a mantra every coach drills into young guns craving an opportunity. It’s not something commonly offered to 400-game veterans. 

To those older heads, ‘stay ready’ can be a tougher sell. Now well past that 400-game milestone, Hawks sharp-shooter Todd Blanchfield’s been ready for 16 NBL seasons and counting. 

To a guy with those bona fides, ‘stay ready’ could almost seem patronising. The 33-year-old doesn’t see it that way. In fact, he’s never leant harder into the mentality than he has this season. 

It’s paid late dividends on the team and personal front. While he’s averaging four points and a rebound across 10 minutes on the full campaign, he’s put up 12 points and three boards in 21 minutes over the past five games since import Darius Days was put on ice with a hamstring injury. 

It’s proven the ultimate silver lining for coach Justin Tatum, who now has one of the scariest stretch fours in the league firing at the right time, and reward for the selfless attitude ‘Hot Toddy’ has consistently maintained since returning to the Gong. 

“To be able to win a championship, I think everyone's got to be able to make sacrifices, some bigger than others,” Blanchfield said. 

“Everyone's done that throughout the year. When you do it for so long, this is my 16th year in the NBL, all that the extra work, coming in and working on your game, kind of just becomes second nature. 

“Throughout the season, JT always said everyone's going to get an opportunity to come in and play their game and contribute to this team winning. You’ve just got to be able to stay ready as best you possibly can. 

“I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy, but obviously injuries happen in professional sport. We had a big hole to fill when Darius went down with his hamstring, and with Trey (Kell) out the last few games as well. 

“It was big minutes and a lot of points we had to fill up, so I'm just happy to be on the court, get some rhythm, and just contribute to winning. Ultimately that’s what I want at this end my career, just to win.” 

The breakout performance on the individual front was his 17 points and six rebounds at 54 per cent from the field against Cairns in January. It prompted skipper Sam Froling to remark that it was only a few years back that Blanchfield was “number two to Bryce Cotton in Perth.” 

The numbers back that up. In the 2021 playoffs with the Wildcats, Blanchfield averaged 18 points, six rebounds and two assists. It made the fact he was subsequently left riding the pine under John Rillie in the West a season later somewhat baffling. 

It prompted the two-time Hawks MVP to move back to Wollongong, something many considered a late-career superannuation top-up.  

That despite the fact he’s only a year older than Cotton, and two years older than skipper and incumbent All-NBL First Teamer Tyler Harvey. It’s why he was so sure he would be ready should opportunity knock. 

“I know what I'm capable of, I don't like to live too much in the past,” Blanchfield said. 

“Over those two years people were saying ‘he might be done, he’s at the end of his career, I don't know that he can contribute anymore’. With social media these days it’s impossible not to see those things, but I knew within myself my own ability. 

“We wouldn't be at this level if we weren't competitive, and we all didn't want to play more. That’s why I come back to fact that everyone's got to make sacrifices throughout the season to be able to win. 

“It is hard to play spot minutes and come in for two minutes here, sometimes a minute here, but that's the role I had early on this year and that's fine. We had an eight, nine-man rotation and we were winning. 

“You probably shouldn't be in team sport if you’re winning and you're complaining about not playing. It just comes back to staying and ready. 

“I tried to bring it every day and practice so I'd be able to replicate that on the court, and I was able to get in a groove the last month or so.” 

Tatum’s special touch keeps happy Hawks focused 

The team-first mentality is something all franchises will lay claim to, but the reality is it exists sparingly in the sport of basketball, where raps, and future jobs, rest so heavily on individual numbers. 

It takes a special coach to instil it as deeply as Tatum has with the Hawks this year. Having played under countless coaches over 16 seasons, Blanchfield feels the reigning NBL Coach of the Year has a special touch. 

“It was a bit of a unique situation because, when he came in last year, he’d been an assistant coach here,” Blanchfield said. 

“As an assistant coach and a head coach, you get you to know your players differently on a personal level. Sometimes you vent to the assistant coaches if you're frustrated about what the head coach is doing or whatever it might be.  

“There’s obviously that side of it. Then, from the moment he took over as head coach last year, we all met, just him and the players, and he broke down his life story. He put himself out there to the group and from that moment on, he had the respect from the players. 

“He's an easy guy to approach, I don't think any guys feel nervous about needing to go and talk to JT about something. He’s had the respect of the players from the get-go and, we've got a bunch of good guys where there’s no egos and everyone wants to win.” 

Enough to get over the championship hump? 

“When you’ve genuinely got 11 guys that can come in and contribute at different times of the game, and on top of it you’ve got good guys who want to win, you’ve got a real chance,” Blanchfield said. 

“To finish on top is special, but the job's not even half done. Our season speaks for itself, it’s obviously history-making for this club and this group, but it’s not going to mean too much without a championship on top of it. 

“I’m 0-3 or 0-4 in grand finals, I don’t like speaking about it. I want that ring, but there’s a lot of work ahead of us.”