Blakely has a few really good attributes, being really clean hands, good strength in the ground-ball contest, and a good feel for tight confines to get some space to dispose of the ball. The problem is he’s not fast, and a bit scattershot with how he delivers it. He’s like Paul Haselby but with worse skills.
In order for him to be successful, you need to give him a very specific role. Lyon made sure the backline was full of players, and so having Blakely there winning the ball in a crowd had value.
JLo has fewer players back, so under him defending and kicking has much more value than contested ball winning back there. There could still be a role for Blakely some team’s midfield, but Fyfe, Mundy and Serong can take care of winning the ball for us. What we need is a bit more class on the outside (I think Young will play midfield before too long, especially if Cerra leaves).
I could see Blakely having some value for a team that skews towards outside seagulls. Sadly, it doesn’t sound like those teams agree, and so I reckon we’ll be paying out the last year of Blakely’s contract.