Ethan Blackadder hoping for a successful rugby career on his own terms
Ethan Blackadder refuses to be defined by the length of his father's shadow.
He's the son of former All Blacks captain and more recently Crusaders' Super Rugby team coach, Todd Blackadder, who's now plying his coaching trade with Bath in the English Premiership.
And while 21-year-old Ethan's clearly proud of his father's achievements, he's determined to make his way in the rugby world under his own steam and on his own terms.
Ethan Blackadder is earning his own fans, handing out autographs to a couple of them during a Tasman Makos Family Fun Day.
He took the first significant step in a potentially promising career when he made his national provincial championship debut for the Tasman Makos in Saturday's fourth round clash with Otago in Dunedin, coming off the bench to play the final 20 minutes.
There's no mistaking his heritage. He plays with the same rugged edge that typified his father's approach. Like any typical father-son relationship, they discuss games and performances, and Ethan's certainly happy to take advice from the old man.
It's just that the hard-nosed loose forward prefers to chart his own course and definitely isn't encumbered by any "son-of" syndrome.
"I don't really buy into that eh?" Blackadder said.
"I've driven my own pathway. I just do the best I can do. He's my dad and no matter who he is, I just get stuck in."
Blackadder owed his Makos promotion to an untimely, season-ending thumb injury to No 8 Vern Fredericks, which could now potentially see the talented rookie become a regular part of Tasman's playing squad.
Despite Tasman's 30-27 loss to Otago, Blackadder thoroughly enjoyed the experience, tempered of course by the disappointment of defeat.
"I really enjoyed it, it was a good opportunity. I'm just sort of taking it each week at a time and training as hard as I can to try and improve and see if that gets me selection.
"We knew if we'd held on to those 50-50s [passes] and if we hadn't made so many handling errors, we might have definitely had a crack at the end there, but there was definitely no shortage of effort.
"I'm just loving it, they're a real good bunch of dudes and a great team."
Blackadder moved north with his family from Rangiora in 2006 and attended Nelson College. However he never played for the First XV, preferring other pursuits.
"In my younger years, I quite enjoyed my hunting and stuff and just sort of stepped away from rugby."
He joined the Nelson senior B club side in his first year out of college in 2013, when he also captained the Nelson Bays under-18 representative side, before progressing to the Nelson club's top side the following year.
His progress has been stalled somewhat by various injuries, most significantly a stress fracture in his back last year which effectively cut his season in half.
"I try not to think too much about [injuries]. I see a setback as the start of a comeback. But [the break] was worth doing, I had to get it sorted."
Now injury-free, he's looking to add more beef to his 103kg and 1.89m-tall frame. But he wants to make a career out of the game.
"I definitely want to give it a good crack. I'll definitely try and be in there [with Tasman] next year as well and keep developing my game. I'm just striving for improvement each year. I'm just sort of planning a year at a time."
