The Canterbury Bulldogs have added a signing to their 2023 roster, with Sunshine Coast prospect Blake Wilson to make the switch to Sydney.
Wilson has been part of the Sunshine Coast system, having played his junior rugby league with the Noosa Pirates.
He made his QLD Cup debut in 2021, before playing 12 games for the Falcons in the reserve grade competition in 2022. His football smarts, a quick turn of pace and ball-playing ability saw him run on nine tries and a pair of try assists in his games.
Sound defensively, Wilson also averaged 121 metres per game for the Sunshine Coast, although found consistent minutes difficult with the Melbourne Storm players coming back into the side on a regular basis.
Speaking to News Corp, he revealed that, combined with injuries, left him not expecting to be find an NRL deal for 2023.
“I wasn't expecting it to be honest, I had a patchy year with injuries and how many games I played because with the Melbourne Storm players coming back it sometimes pushes us out of the team but with the games I played I put some highlights together with my manager and sent them off to a few clubs,” he said.
“We had a few clubs bite back but the Bulldogs were the most keen so I went down for a meeting and signed from there.”
Wilson is likely to be on a development deal at the Bulldogs, however, it will be his first fulltime contract at NRL level, with a hope to play first-grade during the season.
The young gun, who has turned 22 this year, will have a chance to be upgraded to a Top 30 deal if the Bulldogs have indeed offered a development deal at this stage, with the club having two spots left on their roster for 2023.
