Blanchfield wasted no time winning over the Hawks faithful in his side’s season-opener on Friday night, nailing several clutch triples in a quadruple overtime thriller against Melbourne. 

Blanchfield tied the game with four seconds left on a turn-out three from deep to send the game into its second overtime and provided the assist on Jordair Jett’s lay-up to send the match into it’s fourth.

He also traded threes with Chris Goulding to leave the match tied up at the end of regulation and getting him open will no doubt be the top priority for coach Rob Beveridge in the tight games.

Having been, at times, under-utilised in his time in Melbourne and forced into the four spot at Sydney, Blanchfield is excited to return to his more natural role. 

“I work pretty hard on that sort of stuff so that when those situations come up in a game it just feels like another shot,” Blanchfield said.

“I got a good preparation before the Melbourne game. I was there a couple of hours before the game and worked on those exact shots, turn-out stuff and three-point shots. It was good to see a few go in.

“Obviously I was a massive part of the team in Melbourne and Sydney but it was just in a different role.

“It’s a lot more enjoyable when the group we’ve got, from 1-11, has got the confidence that every shot I take I’m going to make.

“They’ve all got that confidence in me and that gives me confidence in myself to step up and, when it’s my turn to take a shot, I’ve got to make it.”

While the Hawks and United no doubt have ‘game of the year’ honours in the bag, Blanchfield said the group hasn’t let extraordinary nature of the match gloss over their 40-point loss to Perth 48 hours later.

It leaves them staring down the barrel of an 0-3 start when they travel to Cairns on Sunday, with Taipans fresh off an 18-point blowout win over Brisbane in their season-opener.

“I haven’t even seen [four overtimes] before let alone been a part of it,” Blanchfield said. said.

“A lot of people said to me after the game that it didn’t really feel like we’d lost but when you’re part of the playing group a loss is a loss.

“Whether it’s by 40 points or one point, the record at the end of the day says 0-2. 

“I think Friday night showed a lot of people have underestimated what we can do as a team but that’s why it was so disappointing to back up the way we did on Sunday.

“We went from one extreme to the other. We can’t have ups and downs like that, we need to be pretty consistent the whole way through the season.

“That’s how the league’s going to be this year, if you turn up and compete every night you’ll give yourself a chance.

“If you don’t turn up from the get-go, like we did on Sunday in Perth, you’re going to get blown out.”