Blake Ayshford (born 15 April 1988) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played as a in the 2000s and 2010s. He played for the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...

and

New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

Background

Ayshford played his junior football with the Paddington-Woollahra Tigers and Coogee Randwick Wombats, representing the 2007 Junior Kangaroos & New South Wales at an under 17s and under 19s level. In 2006 he played for

Endeavour Sports High School Endeavour Sports High School (abbreviated as ESHS) is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary day school, with speciality in sports, located in Caringbah, a southern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Austra ...

when they won the Arrive Alive Cup. Blake's uncle,

Bruce The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...

, played for Easts in 1969. He is of Irish descent

Playing career

Ayshford played in the junior grades with the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

, before signing with the

Wests Tigers

Ayshford played for the Tigers' NYC side where, in 2008, he was named the Player's Player of the Year. He made his first grade debut in Round 11 of the

2009 NRL season The 2009 NRL season was the 102nd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the twelfth run by the National Rugby League. For the third consecutive year, sixteen teams competed for the 2009 Telstra Premiersh ...

, playing against the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

on 22 May. In June 2009, it was announced that Ayshford had signed a two-year contract to remain with the Tigers until the end of the 2011 season. Later that year he signed an extension to the end of the 2012 season. At the end of the 2009 season, Ayshford was named the Wests Tigers' Rookie of the Year. Ayshford cemented his position in the centres in 2010. After his form dipped, the threat of being dropped saw an improved performance towards the end of the season. Before the start of the 2011 season, Ricky Stuart named Ayshford in a "Blues in Waiting" squad, for potential future NSW State of Origin players. Blake Ayshford

In May 2011, Ayshford committed himself to the Wests Tigers for a further 3 years, keeping him at the club until 2015. He played in every game of the 2011 season, scoring 11 tries, and was named the Wests Tigers Members Player of the Year. Having "bulked-up" for the 2012 season, Ayshford said, "People say it's hard to adjust to playing with extra weight but I feel stronger and fitter when I'm weighing more. It just gives me a bit of confidence to know that I'm playing over 100 kilos." However, 2012 was a relative disappointment, with Ayshford playing from the bench in some games, and scoring a career-low 4 tries. Ayshford later said, "It was the first year I've been on the bench, first time in my life starting on the bench actually. I let myself down in certain areas." 2013 was another disappointing season for Ayshford, with just two tries and four wins from his sixteen appearances. On 12 July 2013 it was announced that Ayshford would be joining the

on a two-year contract from 2014.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

In Round 1 of the 2014 NRL season against the

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership, Australia's elite rugby league competition. Since 2008, the ...

, Ayshford made his club debut for the

at centre in the Sharks 18–12 loss at

Remondis Stadium Endeavour Field, known colloquially as Shark Park or Sharks Stadium, is a rugby league stadium in the southern Sydney suburb of Woolooware, New South Wales, Australia. It is the home ground of the Cronulla-Sutherland Rugby League Club, which re ...

. Ayshford made 16 appearances for Cronulla-Sutherland in his first year at the club as they endured one of their worst seasons finishing last.

New Zealand Warriors

In September 2015 Ayshford signed for the

for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. In June 2017, Ayshford signed a further two-year contract, committing both parties until the end of the 2019 season. In Round 19 of the

2019 NRL season The 2019 NRL season was the 112th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 22nd season run by the National Rugby League. The Sydney Roosters became the first team to win back-to-back Premierships since the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 ...

against Parramatta, Ayshford was famously palmed off by Parramatta player

Maika Sivo Maika Sivo (born 3 October 1993) is a Fijian professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Leeds Rhinos in the Super League, and represents Fiji at international level. Background Sivo grew up in Momi Bay, Fiji and played rugby union ...

on his way to the try line. Fox Sports commentator

Andrew Voss Andrew Voss (born 7 September 1966) is an Australian rugby league commentator and radio and television personality who works for Fox League. Voss previously worked for the SKY Network Television as a commentator, and at the Nine Network, inclu ...

said of Sivo's fend on Ayshford "If you can get a charge for palming blokes in the sternum, Sivo’s looking at 10 weeks",. On 2 August 2019, Ayshford announced that he would be retiring at the end of the 2019 season. Ayshford's final game as a player came against

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

Canberra Stadium Canberra Stadium, commercially known as GIO Stadium Canberra, is a facility primarily used for rugby league and rugby union games, located adjacent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is the largest sp ...

in round 25 of the

which New Zealand won 24–20.

Footnotes

External links

New Zealand Warriors profileBlake Ayshford at ''Wests Tigers''Blake Ayshford at NRL.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayshford, Blake 1988 births Living people Australian people of Irish descent Australian rugby league players Balmain Ryde-Eastwood Tigers players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players New Zealand Warriors players Newtown Jets NSW Cup players People educated at Endeavour Sports High School Rugby league centres Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Sydney Wests Tigers players 21st-century Australian sportsmen