"When we got there I looked at it and thought what are they doing getting tackled and playing the ball. When they signed me up to league, I didn't even know the rules." From Fiji to Sydney to Perth and back to Sydney - the journey Blake has endured on the road to the NRL, via rugby union and AFL, has thrown up its challenges. For the first nine years of his life, Blake saw his mother Louise Lesley a couple of times a year and never had a close relationship with his father. Blake was brought up by his grandparents Filimina and George Lesley, while his mother sent money back to the family after moving to Sydney to work at St George Bank in Kogarah. "Mum was working here by herself to look after me and my brother still in Fiji," the Panthers centre said.

"When she could afford to get us a permanent residency, we moved over and so did my grandparents. My grandparents raised me up until I was nine until we moved over. She used to come over for a holiday but she was in Sydney most of the time to pay the bills and help the family. That was really hard. Seeing your mum once or twice a year wasn't easy, but she was working full-time. She was always the something to look forward to. When you haven't seen her in ages, you get excited when you find out she's coming home. "In Fiji, we didn't have a lot of stuff there. We always used to look forward to mum coming home because she'd always bring us stuff home. Things didn't work out with my dad. I grew up with him but I was closer to my grandparents. I kind of looked to my grand parents more as my mum and dad. My grandmother passed away last year. My grandad is still in Western Australia with mum and my stepdad." In Sydney Blake's rugby league career was starting to blossom. He earned a scholarship at Endeavour Sports High, but he lasted just a single term before his mother and stepdad took his family to Perth. "Mum just said 'We have to pack up and go, dad's got a job in the mines and we need the money'," Blake said.

"I was pretty shattered leaving all my family and friends here. I didn't know anyone in Perth. I got used to it, went over and played rugby union over there. League is not that big. It's AFL then rugby union. "I played union and a bit of AFL. Then in 2012, when union wasn't working out, I thought I might as well give it a shot. The SG Ball had a team West Coast Pirates. I did a pre-season there and then got my manager Sam Ayoub from there. From that, in our last game, Jim Jones the recruit manager at Penrith saw me and asked me to come over." Blake joined the Panthers at the end of 2012 as an 18-year-old, training in the pre-season with the club's under-20 squad. He is considered one of the most promising juniors in the game, a game that saved him from a troubled childhood. "If I didn't have this, I don't know what I'd be doing," Blake said.

"I wasn't very bright in school. I used to always get in trouble. So as soon as this worked out for me I put my head down. I struggled for a bit. The first year was really tough, not being able to see my grandparents. They are the ones that kept me in line."