Blake Austin

With the Penrith Panthers incapable of making the semi-finals in 2011, Austin made his NRL debut for the Panthers in round 25 against the Canberra Raiders. He scored a try in his second game, against the St. George Illawarra Dragons in round 26. During the 2012 pre-season, Austin re-signed with the Panthers on a two-year contract.[8] He played 13 games in 2012, scoring a try and kicking 8 goals from 9 attempts. In 2013, Austin played just one game for the Panthers before suffering a foot injury.[9]

On 7 August 2013, Austin signed with the Wests Tigers on a two-year contract starting in 2014. Future coach Mick Potter described him as, "a player with plenty of potential. He can cover centre, half, five-eighth and lock and is also an excellent goal kicker."[10] Austin began the 2014 season playing in the NSW Cup for the Tigers' feeder team, the Balmain Ryde-Eastwood Tigers. He was said to be "dominating" the lower grade. He made his club debut for the Tigers in round 6, after Braith Anasta was suspended.[11] The following week, Austin was a late inclusion on the bench after Liam Fulton withdrew with a shoulder injury. He continued to be chosen on the bench, until moving to five-eighth in July after Anasta suffered a career-ending bicep injury. He appeared in every game for the remainder of the year, scoring seven tries.

Commentator Peter Sterling named Austin as one of the bargain buys of the season, saying it was "obvious he’s a natural footballer with good skills and an ability to play what’s in front of him."[12]

Austin in 2014

On 14 October 2014, Austin was released by the Tigers to sign a three-year deal with the Canberra Raiders starting in 2015.[13][14] Austin entered the Canberra side as a starting line-up five-eighth and was selected to play the first game of the season against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. Austin set up and scored his first try with the club in the Raiders' round 3 loss to the St. George Illawarra Dragons. After several tries and a countless number of strong performances, Austin scored his first career hat-trick against the Knights in Round 18, incredibly scoring all three tries within eleven minutes of the match.[5] On 28 September 2015, Austin was named as the Dally M Five-Eighth of the Year. He finished the 2015 season playing a total of 23 matches, 16 line-breaks, 7 try-assists and 14 tries. In 2016, Austin played 19 games for Canberra as they finished second on the table at the end of the regular season. 2016 was also the first year that Austin had played finals football.[15] At the start of 2018, Canberra lost their opening 4 games of the season and as a result Austin was demoted to reserve grade by coach Ricky Stuart.[16] On 24 June 2018, it was reported that Austin had rejected a contract extension with the club which was confirmed by Canberra's recruitment manager Peter Mulholland. Mulholland told the media "Blake had an offer on the table last year and he rejected that offer, and as in the game you've got to move on and unfortunately he didn't take the offer and we've moved on, basically, It's unfortunate, but that's the way it works with the salary cap, you cannot keep everybody". On 30 June 2018, Canberra led Brisbane 16-0 at halftime until a second half fight back from Brisbane made the scores 24-22. With the game on the line, Austin attempted a goal line drop out which went over the touchline on the full giving Brisbane a penalty goal shot right in front of the posts to win the match 26-22.[17][18] On 9 July, Austin signed a three-year deal to join English side the Warrington Wolves [19]

On 12 August 2018, Canberra were trailing the Wests Tigers 22-20 with three minutes left in the game. Austin attempted to tackle Wests winger David Nofoaluma but was penalized by the referee after Austin lifted Nofoaluma in a dangerous position which was similar to a "WWE-style powerbomb". The costly penalty gave Wests a much needed reprieve and ended up holding on for the victory.[20]

Austin made his competitive debut for Warrington Wolves in the seasons opening 26-6 win against Leeds Rhinos. Scoring his first try in the second half. Austin was part of the Warrington side which finished 4th during the Super League XXIV season but were eliminated in the first week of the finals series by Castleford 14-12.[21]