Tara Murray
Craigieburn Eagles Blake Dickinson has been planning to retire for a number of years, but he keeps coming back.
On Saturday, he celebrated game 300 for the Eagles in the Big V competition.
He joins rare company at the club with only three other players having reached the 300 game milestone. He is the second man behind Eric Plant.
Dickinson said it’s pretty crazy to have reached that milestone.
“It’s not something that I set out to do,” he said. “Time ticks away and all of a sudden you’re at 300 games.
“It is great.”
Dickinson played all his juniors at the Eagles before stepping into the Big V program, playing eight years.
When he started there was no youth league competition and he stepped into the men’s side as a 17-year-old.
The highlight for Dickinson is the 2012 championship.
“That team was good,” he said. “Individually I’ve led the league in offensive rebounds twice which is a pretty good one.
“I started out as the young guy in the team and now I’m the oldest one. I’ve probably played with 100 players over that time.
“A couple of the guys I used to coach are now my teammates.”
Dickinson has also won two club most valuable players awards, 2016 and 2023.
Among those teammates is big brother, Jae Dickinson. Blake and Jae played their 200th games on the same night in 2018.
Jae gave up a couple of years ago. Dickinson said initially it was weird not playing with his brother, but he got used to it.
Dickinson said there was something they drew him back to playing each year.
“I’ve been saying one more year for a few years now,” he said. “Last couple of years we haven’t had the best team on court.
“We’ve got a competitive team this year. After the last couple of years and the situation we were in, I couldn’t dive into retirement.
“The body is now pulling up a bit sore and I can’t jump as high. Hopefully I can have one more shot at it and hopefully finish on top. It could be the last one.
The Eagles sit atop on the division 2 ladder after 15 rounds.
Dickinson said he was really enjoying this year and hopes they can challenge for the championship.
The Eagles celebrated Dickinson’s milestone game with a win against the Sherbrooke Suns.
Scores were level at quarter time before the Suns led by four points at the main break.
That increased to six points at the final break.
A 31-20 final quarter helped the Eagles come away with an 83-78 win.
Bradley Hassell top scored with 20 points off the bench.
Dickinson finished the game with five points, 12 rebounds and two assists,
