By Ricky Kelly
Driving a fan to a game after they were freezing at a bus stop on a cold Canberra Winter’s day and being a key player for the Raiders, Five Eighth Blake Austin has settled in well since his departure from the Tigers.
The 2015 Dally M Five-Eighth of the year is feeling right at home in the Nation’s Capital and believes that the clubs current stability has helped out the team on the field.
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“We are a very stable club down here, we are all on a similar page from right from the players to the front office and we love having that stability as it helps us on the field”, Austin said.
Austin is locked away in Canberra for at least one more season and he insists that it is great to have everything set up and in place for the team to work towards success.
“Yeah I think that as players all we can sort of focus on is our performances on the field and I know that we all want to be here for a long time so that makes it pretty easy”, Austin said.
The Raiders will square up against the Warriors this Saturday evening as both team will look to continue winning form.
With plenty of talk surrounding Kieran Foran and his contribution to the Warriors, Austin says he is not solely focused on his opposite number.
“I’m heading out to play the Warriors, as I’ve said before I don’t really read into personal battles, it is our team coming up against theirs”, he said.
On Saturday it will be a fierce battle between two halves pairings that are very capable of changing the momentum of matches. Austin believes that he and halves partner Aidan Sezer have taken on more leadership in recent weeks.
“In the last few weeks we (Sezer and I) have definitely taken more ownership on the team, the boys are relishing that and its definitely more enjoyable for me and him (Sezer)”, he said.
Having lost some close games this season, Austin is comfortable with where the Raiders are currently at and believes they have put a number of solid performances together a side from the close loses.
