Blake Ferguson

Blake Ferguson

Personal information
Nickname	Fergo
Born	(1990-03-20) 20 March 1990 Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia
Height	192 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	103 kg (16 st 3 lb)
Playing information
Position	Centre, Wing
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2009–10	Cronulla Sharks	42	16	0	0	64
2011–13	Canberra Raiders	60	36	14	0	172
2015–	Sydney Roosters	19	10	0	0	40
	Total	121	62	14	0	276
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2010–13	Indigenous All Stars	2	0	0	0	0
2010–11	Prime Minister's XIII	2	2	0	0	8
2012	NSW Country	1	2	0	0	8
2013	New South Wales	1	0	0	0	0
As of 28 August 2015
Source: Rugby League Project

Blake Ferguson (born 20 March 1990) is a rugby league player and Australian amateur boxer. He is currently signed to the Sydney Roosters and formerly played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and Canberra Raiders of the NRL. He made his professional boxing debut on 27 November 2013 in a fight against Luke Turner.

Ferguson is a nephew of Solomon Haumono and a cousin of Anthony Mundine who is a boxer and a former rugby league player for St George Illawarra Dragons He is also eligible for the Indigenous All Stars, by account of his indigenous heritage.

Ferguson is managed by Sam Ayoub and was previously managed by his uncle Solomon Haumono.

Career

In 2009, while playing for the Sharks, Ferguson was just beaten by Jamal Idris as the rookie of the year at the 2009 Dally M Awards.

In 2010, he was called up to play for the Indigenous All-Stars replacing the injured Justin Hodges. In that match he famously ran down Israel Folau.

Following a clause in his contract that allowed him to leave the Sharks if coach Ricky Stuart left, Ferguson also left the club at the end of 2010. He signed a 2-year deal to play with the Canberra Raiders starting from 2011. He was the Raiders top try-scorer for the season.

In 2012, Ferguson had one of his best seasons on the field, representing the Country New South Wales rugby league team and making the Australia national rugby league team train-on squad.

In 2013, Ferguson made his debut for the New South Wales rugby league team in Game I of the 2013 State of Origin series. He had previously been approached by Queensland rugby league team coach Mal Meninga to play for Queensland. Following his debut Origin game Ferguson's league career took a highly publicized downward spiral following an indecent assault charge.

In May 2014, Ferguson signed with the Sydney Roosters, who beat out South Sydney Rabbitohs for his services. In late June 2014, following Ferguson's guilt over his 2013 indecent assault charge, the NRL rejected an application for him to join the Sydney Roosters for the remainder of the 2014 NRL season, meaning he had to wait until the 2015 season to play for his new club. As part of his rehabilitation, Ferguson completed a rugby league refereeing course. He is widely seen as the man to replace Sonny Bill Williams, who departed after the 2014 season.

For the 2015 NRL season Ferguson's healthy form has led to Wendell Sailor considering him "the second best buy of the season".

Controversy

Blake has been disciplined for several incidents of off-field behaviour. At a music festival in November 2012 he was escorted by security staff out of a VIP area after reports that he had been spitting on patrons. The Raiders refused to answer specific questions about the incident but stated that "We are aware of the incident and Blake has been disciplined internally." On 17 June, Ferguson was apprehended and charged by police for an alleged Indecent Assault at the Sutherland Shire nightclub 2230.

On Friday 6 September 2013 the Canberra Raiders sacked Ferguson.

On 11 December 2013, Ferguson was found guilty of indecently assaulting a woman at a nightspot in Cronulla on 16 June 2013. Ferguson had pleaded not guilty arguing that he had mistaken the woman for a woman he was going to meet.

Conversion to Islam

He converted to Islam on 8 November 2013 after taking his shahada with cousin Anthony Mundine, who has been a Muslim for many years.