Irish Echo Sport

Tadhg Kennelly’s departure from the Sydney Swans left a void. The Kerryman had been a leader and a go-to figure for the crop of young Irish AFL recruits ploughing their furrow Down Under.

At only 21 years of age, Martin Clarke’s success at Collingwood has made him the obvious successor for the title. Albeit somewhat reluctant about the tag, Clarke says he’s keen to offer a helping hand to anyone who might need it.

“I don’t really look at it like that, in terms of being number one, but anything that I can do for any of the young boys like Michael Quinn (the Essendon Bombers’ newest sensation), I will. 

“I suppose I’m one Irish player who’s playing regularly at their club now.  Tadhg was obviously a fair way ahead of all of us, with winning the Premiership and being the main player at Sydney. I look up to him greatly and wish him all the best now that he’s gone back,” Clarke said.

With nine players on the books at AFL clubs this year, Clarke is hoping this will be an exciting year for the Irish.

“It would be great if we could make a big mark in the competition together. I don’t think any one of us will care who’s the best. Just as long as we can play well at our clubs and have successful careers.

“It’s great if the likes of Michael look up to me. But hopefully he’s thinking ‘I want to be better than Marty Clarke, I want to be the number one Irish player’.”

As well as hoping for a successful year for the Irish boys, the former Down minor is confident that his Magpies can achieve big things.

Having suffered a narrow four-point defeat to the Adelaide Crows in their season opener, in which Clarke kicked two goals and amassed 20 disposals, the Pies bounced back for their round two clash against Melbourne at the weekend winning by a whopping 53-points. 

Clarke racked up 22 disposals in that game, but he’s more keen to focus on how the squad is coming along than on his own personal stats.

“We want to finish in the top four to give ourselves a real chance of going for a Premiership. And I suppose there’s no need to be tentative in saying we want to win it because we’ve come close enough in the last few years. 

“We’ve improved on our list this year we think and there’s a lot of hunger in the side. That’s our main goal. To win a Premiership.”

Having excelled in the club’s pre-season NAB Cup campaign and opening rounds of the season proper Clarke admits that his biggest focus in the lead up to the 2009 competition was to avoid the early season slump he suffered last year. 

Dropped for rounds two and three in 2008, he regained form in the reserves to win his place back and played every game for the rest of the year. 

“Last year when I got dropped I thought it was coming because I didn’t have a great pre-season. I moved into the midfield and I probably wasn’t as comfortable there and maybe my intensity did drop off a bit. 

“In my first pre-season I did a lot of extras and stayed back because I thought that I had a lot to do to catch up with these boys and maybe last year I didn’t have that mindset and thought I was able to get my place here. 

“But I was wrong and I thank Mick Malthouse for dropping me for two games and making me earn my place and I suppose get my hunger back for it.

“This year I was really keen to keep my hunger up and I still have in my head that I’m catching up with these boys. This year I’ve been trying to get the best of myself to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

While Clarke’s rise to senior ranks at Collingwood was rapid, that of his compatriot Kevin Dyas has been more problematic.

Last year a serious hamstring injury not only required the Irish rookie to go under the knife but it ended his season prematurely. While the Armagh man is still a few weeks away from making a comeback for the reserves, Clarke is confident he’ll make a successful return and draw attention.

“He’s improved a lot in recent weeks. It’s been frustrating for him because it’s a pretty serious injury so it was always going to be long term, but in the last few weeks he’s been training with the main group again.

“He’s not able to fully sprint 100 per cent and tackle or run out a full game but he’s kicking well again so he should be back in the Collingwood reserves in a few weeks. 

“Everyone expects him to push for senior selection soon. It would be great to have a small defender in there who can use the ball well. So hopefully he stays clear of injury and it will be Armagh and Down kicking it to each other down back.”

by Catherine Murphy