Breaking News - Martin Clarke

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The Flying Magpie

The Flying Magpie

Rookie
Jan 11, 2009
34
31
Hobart
AFL Club
Collingwood
I sent Joseph my Collingwood 2011 members scarf, under is his thank you and a snippet of very interesting information

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Thanks, is it known over there that Martin is going back to Collingwood in October?
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Joseph
 
Can we have more detail, like how you know Joe Donnan, etc.?

fyi Dave, he is secretary of gaelic club, An Riocht.
 

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My care factor is 0.

How long would it take him to get back to playing a a decent standard of AFL football?

During that time required in the VFL he would prob crack it again and go home.
 
Would welcome Marty back with open arms.

Would be an ideal replacement for a Leon Davis/Ben Johnson who are closer to the end of their careers.
 
Jedi01 said:
How long would it take him to get back to playing a a decent standard of AFL football?
Click to expand...

It wouldn't take him all that long. During his time at the club he consistently placed in the top 3 of time trials so aerobically he would be right to go just about straight away and his Gaelic footy would have kept him in excellent shape.

It might take him 6-8 weeks to adjust to the tempo, as the speed of the game has increased markedly since he left, but considering we play 4 practice matches that'd take him until about round 4 to adjust. Plus his touch with the oval ball is amazing (we all saw the clip of him kicking the ball up to himself in a game in the wet and the one at the westpac centre when he juggled it with his feet) so he could be knocking on the door of the seniors within the first 6-8 weeks of the season proper.

As said earlier Johnson and Davis aren't getting any younger and at his best he's clearly better than Buckley, so we could do a lot worse than bringing him back into the fold. I guarantee there'd be 17 other clubs chasing his signature if we weren't interested.
 
This is very exciting news, especially considering Benny Johnson and Leon aren't getting any younger.
 
Scodog10 said:
It wouldn't take him all that long. During his time at the club he consistently placed in the top 3 of time trials so aerobically he would be right to go just about straight away and his Gaelic footy would have kept him in excellent shape.

It might take him 6-8 weeks to adjust to the tempo, as the speed of the game has increased markedly since he left, but considering we play 4 practice matches that'd take him until about round 4 to adjust. Plus his touch with the oval ball is amazing (we all saw the clip of him kicking the ball up to himself in a game in the wet and the one at the westpac centre when he juggled it with his feet) so he could be knocking on the door of the seniors within the first 6-8 weeks of the season proper.

As said earlier Johnson and Davis aren't getting any younger and at his best he's clearly better than Buckley, so we could do a lot worse than bringing him back into the fold. I guarantee there'd be 17 other clubs chasing his signature if we weren't interested.
Click to expand...

Serious, you think a player who has not played AFL for years would take 6-8 weeks to find form again?

Just look at the current AFL stars struggling to find form after a interrupted pre-season, or Nathan Ablett.

Time trials are not overly important imo. Jaxson Barham was regularly in the top 5.
 
Lack of pre-season is different because of the lack of fitness and the time required to get confidence in your body amongst other things. Scodog was suggesting as Marty hasn't had any injury concerns and is still playing a high level of competitive sport his fitness and skills won't take that long to adapt, on top of that unlike a player who misses a pre-season he would have the benifit of doing a pre-season.

Nathan Ablett is different in that he isn't a great player. That is not to say he isn't talanted, he may well be, but I have never seen anything (for one reason or another) to suggest he has the skills required to be a top line player (that maybe because I haven't seen enough of him play who knows)

On the other hand Marty has shown IMO that he deffinately has what it takes, when his heart was in it he was one of our most promising players. The fact is the first time he came down to play it only took him half a season to get up to the level and it should be shorter now with his experince from last time.

That said it is a much stronger side now and he will have much more trouble breaking into it but if he did want to play having the option or the resource would only strengthen our list. As I said he certainly has the ability to make it and as others have mentioned could fill a spot left by a Johnson or Davis, even if he doesn't the greater competition for spots is only a good thing.
 
Jedi01 said:
My care factor is 0.

How long would it take him to get back to playing a a decent standard of AFL football?

During that time required in the VFL he would prob crack it again and go home.
Click to expand...

It wouldn't take him very long. Athletically, he'll be good to go. The thing you have to remember with Clarke is that in his first ever season of playing the game, he became good enough to perform at an acceptable AFL level. He just gets sport.
 

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Scodog10 said:
It might take him 6-8 weeks to adjust to the tempo, as the speed of the game has increased markedly since he left, but considering we play 4 practice matches that'd take him until about round 4 to adjust. Plus his touch with the oval ball is amazing (we all saw the clip of him kicking the ball up to himself in a game in the wet and the one at the westpac centre when he juggled it with his feet) so he could be knocking on the door of the seniors within the first 6-8 weeks of the season proper.
Click to expand...

andrew krarouer ring any bells folks ?
 
He has shown first time around how quickly he adapted to the game. Can only be a positive if we were to get him back.

But how do we get him back to Pies. Haven't we missed the opportunity for him to walk back in the team.

Would he have to do a Luke Ball and put a big price on his head?
 
I always thought Clarke was an excellent player, and rather underrated in the wider footballing community. If he can get back to his previous best, and even surpass it (which isn't out of the question considering his age), then he'd be an excellent recruit.
 
Jedi01 said:
Serious, you think a player who has not played AFL for years would take 6-8 weeks to find form again?

Just look at the current AFL stars struggling to find form after a interrupted pre-season, or Nathan Ablett.

Time trials are not overly important imo. Jaxson Barham was regularly in the top 5.
Click to expand...

you are underselling clarke here

how long did it take him to crack a senior game the 1st time around? from memory think he'd been in australia about 6-8 months without ever having played the game before? if he is back in october and does a pre season he will be ready for action rnd 1 2012. would be a massive addition if true
 
captain peanut said:
you are underselling clarke here

how long did it take him to crack a senior game the 1st time around? from memory think he'd been in australia about 6-8 months without ever having played the game before? if he is back in october and does a pre season he will be ready for action rnd 1 2012. would be a massive addition if true
Click to expand...

I don't think I am, it was much much easier to gets games in 07,08,09 as opposed to now.

He averaged 17 disposals playing a position that sees players rack up easy possessions and never once got over 30.

If he comes back who does he replace in the side Rd 1 2012?

The depth argument is valid, but if a guy has left a club once to go home, he is not coming back to run around in the VFL and get the odd AFL game.
 
If he comes back he'll have to realise he's just depth now and will have to work his way back up the pecking order from the VFL. If I'm not mistaken being in the VFL for the majority of his last year was the straw that broke the camels back for him. Nothing wrong with adding a proven player to the list though, if we pick him up for free we're laughing.
 
Jedi01 said:
Serious, you think a player who has not played AFL for years would take 6-8 weeks to find form again?

Just look at the current AFL stars struggling to find form after a interrupted pre-season, or Nathan Ablett.

Time trials are not overly important imo. Jaxson Barham was regularly in the top 5.
Click to expand...

Think about it for just a second. He's arguably the number one player in a sport where there is literally no stopping, Gaelic football doesn't have Aussie rules style tackling and marks aren't paid, so its continuous all the time much the same as the commission is working towards in AFL.

He would probably have to readjust to the tackling aspect and learn where to run at certain times but remember he'll be playing as a backman so we don't need to necessarily feed him that much of the ball until he finds his feet, as long as he's stopping his man.

I wouldn't have put such a short time frame on it if it were any other individual it's just that we've already seen that Marty is an exceptionally quick learner, so fast in fact that he went from an international rookie pick in 2006 to one of our best in the preliminary final of 2007, and especially because he already has that grounding in the game from his previous stint. The zoning and game plan work would take a bit but we have an entire off-season to teach him the nuances of it. He's still young, 23, so I could see us making far worse moves than bringing him back into the fold next year as it will only cost us our last pick in the rookie draft.

Absolute worse case scenario he adds much needed depth to a reserves team that is sometimes swamped by bigger bodies (one of his biggest assets is his strength through the hips and core). Whereas a best case scenario is he adds to the depth of an already powerful senior outfit for the next 6-8 years. I look at it as a win win for the club so long as his hearts in it, considering there isn't any point in him wasting our time or his by coming back over if it isn't, I'm positive he can add something into the mix.
 
Scodog10 said:
Think about it for just a second. He's arguably the number one player in a sport where there is literally no stopping, Gaelic football doesn't have Aussie rules style tackling and marks aren't paid, so its continuous all the time much the same as the commission is working towards in AFL.

He would probably have to readjust to the tackling aspect and learn where to run at certain times but remember he'll be playing as a backman so we don't need to necessarily feed him that much of the ball until he finds his feet, as long as he's stopping his man.

I wouldn't have put such a short time frame on it if it were any other individual it's just that we've already seen that Marty is an exceptionally quick learner, so fast in fact that he went from an international rookie pick in 2006 to one of our best in the preliminary final of 2007, and especially because he already has that grounding in the game from his previous stint. The zoning and game plan work would take a bit but we have an entire off-season to teach him the nuances of it. He's still young, 23, so I could see us making far worse moves than bringing him back into the fold next year as it will only cost us our last pick in the rookie draft.

Absolute worse case scenario he adds much needed depth to a reserves team that is sometimes swamped by bigger bodies (one of his biggest assets is his strength through the hips and core). Whereas a best case scenario is he adds to the depth of an already powerful senior outfit for the next 6-8 years. I look at it as a win win for the club so long as his hearts in it, considering there isn't any point in him wasting our time or his by coming back over if it isn't, I'm positive he can add something into the mix.
Click to expand...

Excellent post Scodog. The bold is exactly why we should jump at the opportunity if Clarke is interested in returning. I'm not convinced we would necesarily pidgeon hole him as a defender though. Johnsons linking midfield role would probably be a good a role for Clarke and I can also see him as a HFF ala Rusty and Beams current roles.
 
If he comes back, wouldn't he be available to all the other clubs as well? I seem to remember reading last year when there was some discussion of him returning that if he was to come back at the end of last season, we could have picked him up without him being accessible to other clubs, but that due to the length of time he had been away, last year was the last opportunity to pick him up under such circumstances.

If he did come back and go into the National and/or Rookie Drafts, considering he's a player with proven talent, I think there would be 17 other clubs looking at picking him up as well
 
I think Clarke is more than capable of playing that high HFF role because he was always so creative when he had the ball in hand but it may be harder for him to force his way into the line up in that position, at least initially.

That is unless Steele can learn to play Johnson's role. Steele was played as a HBF/ midfielder (ala Heppell) in his TAC and U18 championships days and would be brilliant coming off a HBF and pumping it long into our forward half. The only query would be whether he has the pace to play that role, but considering he is a good contested mark, never loses his feet, has clean hands and is quick of mind I think he'd go alright back there. Plus it would add another dimension to the most attacking back half in the league.

Just food for thought I guess...
 
gravy1 said:
This is very exciting news, especially considering Benny Johnson and Leon aren't getting any younger.
Click to expand...
If he is not homesick and prepared to work hard, then he would be in Collingwood's best team.
Jedi01 said:
He averaged 17 disposals playing a position that sees players rack up easy possessions and never once got over 30.
Click to expand...
Heath Shaw averaged 18 possessions in his first 46 games. Harry O'Brien averages 14 possessions in his career to date, but he only averaged less than 10 possessions in his first 46 games. Ben Johnson has a career average of 17 possessions but he only averaged 12 possessions in his first 46 games.

That makes Marty Clarke's average of 17 possessions from his 46 matches look pretty good in my opinion. He may not have had a 30 possession match, but so what? He did have a 28 possession match and a 26 possession match which is bloody close enough in a short career.
 
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