#37 Dylan Alwyn Clarke - at Woodville West Torrens

Yeo and Sheed would be the ideal matchups for Dylan. Depends on how they use Yeo as well, as they can play him in a number of positions and I’d prefer to keep Clarke in the centre.

Yeah, I’m thinking if Yeo plays around stoppages.

He’s a great player and hugely important to them.

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#6 from Geelong too. Forgotten his name. Jordan something…Clark?

Yeo, Sheed, and Shuey are their best clearance players if we can shut down of them it’ll go a long way towards a win.

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Shirt v Merrett
Sheed v Sheil
Clarke v Yeo

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With two scalps under his belt the footy world is well aware of Clarke. It’s a b test tonight to see how he backs up. And if the Eagles target him to take his influence out fo the game, how he and the side has prepared and/or responds to that. He has excellent composure and may thrive with the challenge.

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thing is he’s not a dirty nagging scragger like so many taggers in the past. He’s an inside ball winner who’s learned his craft around stoppages and more recently has had to put up with a tag at the lower level. He knows how to use his body to block space or work his opponent off the ball because it’s been done to him and reads the ball off the ruckman extremely well. He’s strong given his youth and is a very good tackler. If the West Coast mids are going to go to him in an effort to put him of his task, then they run the risk of leaving our other mids on their own, who can be far more damaging in their own right. We saw this in the 3rd qtr on Friday night. The Hawks started going to Clarke at stoppages to try and generate a 2 on 1 and work off him. It didn’t work. It left Merrett free and he tore them a new one. I would dare the Budgies to try the same tactic as it presents as such a strong opportunity to get on top in the crucial midfield battle.

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Excellent post Chopsuey. He is not a mega bodied mid, but at 187cm he is almost a big bodied mid because has a lot of upper body strength and strength in the hips and legs. This means he can push bigger players like Cripps away from the contest quite well. So far in 2 games this year he has not had one free awarded against him. He is not holding opponents, but pushing them away. Smart kid with footy smarts as well.

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I’ve noticed that a number of our players do this. It’s an excellent tactic as it gets the opponent well away from the ball. Is this a 2019 thing, something that Rutten implemented? I don’t recall it being a thing last year.

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Maybe Pops Kelly influence, he’s was an extremely canny footballer and very underrated as a mid and as our midfield development coach is directly responsible for this area of the game. Also played along side one of if not the best run with player we’ve seen in the last ~20 years in Cameron Ling, who surprise surprise never resorted to dirty snide tactics to beat his opponent.

Rutten would be responsible for stoppage structures.

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The Dawks didn’t go two-on-one much versus Clarke at stoppages. What did happen was that his man would make Clarke and not the ball their initial target. That’s a win.

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It is exactly the kind of thing Rutten has been teaching the players.
You may recall me describing this in pre-season.

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I only read nackers’ training reports :slight_smile:
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I do appreciate the post to clarify

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He is as strong as any of the big bodied mids, and knows how to use it too.

WC are a little bit more even inside then Carlton or hawthorn. Going to be interesting to see how we use him.

Went at 87% efficiency, for an inside mid that’s fantastic especially for a player with the kicking technique he has, must play every game this year

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He’s learning to kick to his limitations,just like Cameron Ling did.

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He kicked high and slow deliberately.

What was everyone else’s excuse?!?

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Didn’t really notice him last night. That’s probably a good thing. Noticed plenty of our other players (for all the wrong reasons…)

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There’s “not noticing” like Clarke, and then there’s “not noticing” like Raz and Brown