Connor Blakely is looking forward to enjoying family, food and the waves while also keeping up his preparations for the 2019 season during the players’ three-week Christmas break.

Blakely and his teammates wrapped up their year following their week-long training camp on the Gold Coast and will return to the club on Monday 7 January.

Until then, Blakely is motivated to keep his training going during his own time while enjoying the holiday period.

“We’ve got three weeks off instead of two weeks now which is quite nice,” Blakely said.

“It’s a really good opportunity to have that mental break away from the stresses of footy. We still have a program to do so we’ll keep up the running do weights training as well. 

“It’s super important to get that program done. I think the best way to do that is to get up early, get it done and then you don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the day.”

Blakely said his family will kick off festivities on Christmas eve.

“We have a really big Christmas eve dinner,” Blakely said. 

“That’s our tradition and then on Christmas day, it’s usually pretty chill.

“We’ll head down to the beach or stay at the house and play cricket and eat lots of food, so I’m really looking forward to that.” 

An avid surfer, Blakely will hit up a number of spots in the south-west.

“I’ll be heading down to Denmark for the first time for a few days so that will be pretty nice,” Blakely said. 

“I’ve heard great things about it and back in Perth for Christmas and then I head down south to Dunsborough as well. There will be a lot of time in the water, hopefully.” 

Blakely said that a number of his teammates are taking up surfing as a way to bond outside of the club.

“We have a few of us, the ‘froth crew’ we call ourselves,” Blakly said.

“We’ve got Bradley Hill on his bodyboard, he loves it. ‘Fyfey’ is someone that loves his surfing as well and it’s great to have that connection with him.

“A few of the younger boys are getting into it, Hugh Dixon bought a wetsuit the other week and Adam Cerra is getting into it. 

“We’re starting to form a bit of a crew. It forms a bond and there’s a mateship there that can only strengthen your relationship which is going to be beneficial for the individual and the team as well.”