Time for Jarryd Blair to get some 'easy' footy Jarryd Blair cops it sweet from Aaron Cornelius over the shoulder during a NAB cup match between Collingwoods and the Lions. JARRYD Blair has never worried about getting his hands dirty. With an inherent blue-collar work ethic matched by a fierce appetite for a contest, Blair has felt as if he has been playing for his career in each of his 59 games for Collingwood. In a way, he still does. That's despite the fact that Blair, who will be 23 on April 14, had his most consistent season last year. He managed to make the switch from being a small forward capable of a quick cameo through the middle to a permanent member of Collingwood's midfield rotation, who also happened to perform well in attack. There's nothing like a Dane Yet Blair admitted as he prepared for today's clash with North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium: "I still don't feel safe. I go into each week thinking if I don't get a kick, then that puts me on a knife edge for the following week. It has a fair bit to do with the position that I play. It is not as if you are a 'Pendles' (Scott Pendlebury) or a 'Swanny' (Dane Swan), winning games for the team. There are other blokes who can fill the role that I play. So from week to week, I have got to do what is asked of me or someone else might come in and do it. I actually enjoy that pressure. It keeps you sharp and motivated. That's not masochism on Blair's part. He thrives on pressure. Blair had the highest contested possession percentage -- 53 per cent -- among the Collingwood midfield last season and he ranked No.1 at the club for forcing opposition turnovers and pressure in the forward half. But as strange as it sounds, he knows he needs to start getting some easy ball to take his game to a new level. Blair's aims for 2013 are many and varied, but chief among them is getting a better balance between his contested and uncontested possessions. "I think I can still improve a fair bit on last year," he said. I would love to get a few more loose, uncontested balls. 'Beamsy' (Dayne Beams) will get his 10-plus contested possessions each game, but he will also have 15 or 20 on the outside as well. If you can get those (uncontested) numbers up, you can have much more of an influence. The kid from Wonthaggi -- even the South Gippsland town's name has an industrious ring to it as it derives from an indigenous word "to drag, carry or pull" -- admits that it will be a change in his style to win the ball on the outside. "It's probably not as natural to me, that side of the game, as trying to win it in close," he said. It is something I'm going to have to focus on. No one who knows Blair's story doubts his capacity to achieve it. He has cleared almost every challenge that has confronted him. The biggest was always going to be his height, or lack of it. He stands 174cm -- the same as his childhood hero, Hawthorn great Shane Crawford -- but talent scouts worried whether he would be tall enough to make an impact at AFL level. Even though he performed exceptionally in the TAC Cup with Gippsland Power -- winning what was once considered the poisoned chalice of under-age football, the Morrish Medal -- he was overlooked in the national draft. THAT was despite averaging 128 SuperCoach points per game in his TAC Cup year. Collingwood gave him a chance on its rookie list and his sheer determination pushed him on a path to the AFL. Since making his debut against West Coast in Round 15, 2010, he has missed only four games. He has played in three Grand Finals (one win, one draw and one loss) and 10 finals. One sixth of his games have been in finals. "I always knew I was going to have to work harder," Blair said. Even one of my teachers at school, Johnny Ryan, said to me, 'You're only going to be five foot whatever, you are just going to have to be able to do something well'. I don't think my tackling or any of that stuff is better than anyone else's, but it is just something I have to do to keep my spot. Collingwood football and coaching strategist Rodney Eade insisted that Blair did all that and more last season. "There are a lot of people who have been told that they are too small or too slow, but sometimes they fight against that and want to prove people wrong," Eade said. 'Apart from his fight, 'Blairy' has good talent, he is clean with his hands, he has good courage, he tackles well and is a good kick for goal. He is in an emerging leaders group and people have been pleased with his ability to talk up at meetings. He has strong opinions and he is not afraid to voice them. Eade said in Luke Ball's absence last year, Beams capitalised on greater opportunities presented and won the Copeland Trophy. Likewise, Blair also took his chances when they came and finished seventh in the best-and-fairest award. " 'Beamsy' got a lot of credit last year for the way in which he jumped up as a player, but 'Blairy' jumped up as well," Eade said. There is no doubt he took a greater role in the midfield last year. He really adapted to the role well and was given a lot more game time in the middle. I think that will increase this year. We know that interchange rotations are going to be capped in future years, so that will mean you will need more midfielders. And those mids are going to have to play forward because you won't be able to rest them on the bench. I think Blairy has that role covered. Blair took his place at centre bounces on 82 occasions in 2011. Last year it was 274. When Eade joined Hawthorn from Tasmania in the mid-1970s, he was coached in the reserves by Blair's grandfather, John O'Mahoney. O'Mahoney played 112 games with the Hawks from 1951-60 and remains one of John Kennedy Sr's best mates. Blair said he was driven to his 2012 form by his performance in the 2011 Grand Final, when he was subbed out of the game. "It wasn't a game that I was proud of," he said. I felt I let myself down and I let my teammates down. That motivated me to work hard over that summer and it seemed to pay off for me last year. But he insisted he would not be complacent about his increased output in 2012. "I can't afford to do that," he said. Blair might not get the attention of others wearing black and white, but that doesn't worry him. "It's good to run a bit under the radar," he said with a smile. You don't get scouted by other teams as much. You go into a game and there are four or five blokes who are ahead of you in terms of getting attention. So that probably helps with your footy and helps to keep you with a level head. You can't get ahead of yourself. When you work as hard as Jarryd Blair does, and you treat every match as if it could be your last, there seems very little chance of that.