#37 Dylan Alwyn Clarke - at Woodville West Torrens

Nice mark from behind earlier, too.

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It looked to me like the first half they had Dylan only matching him at the bounces, and then after half time he went full ā€œsafety blanketā€ mode - is this accurate?

GUN

In fact he started in the centre for the first bounce on him but then gave him a long rope. He wasnā€™t even in the centre on him for the next two or three bounces. Seemed to have a long stint on the bench early in the first.

This kid has matched Cripps Parker and Cunnington for strength over the last month. Heā€™s farking 21. Heā€™ll be one of the strongest (physically at least) inside players in the league within a few years.

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And he has the tank to match. Heā€™ll be the best ā€˜taggerā€™ in the comp imo. He doesnā€™t just nullify his opponent he beats them to the ball and does it at the coalface which is a rare ability against the best stoppage players in the AFL. He is much more effective when deployed on genuine inside mids instead of on outside leaning runners. Matt Crouch is gonna be a good challenge for him but he matches up well.

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His kicking is not super damaging (also far from being a liability) but his hands in contested situations are among our best. His disposal is not a problem.

He just needs to keep doing what heā€™s doing and over the next few years find a way to increase his disposal and clearance counts. He looks at home at AFL level and needs to keep developing there.

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Iā€™m not fussed with the high disposal counts.

but the way he held a pillow over cunningtons face was a sight to behold. Cunnington has absolutely dicked our midfield in terms of contested presence for years, yes weā€™ve won a few recent, be heā€™s generally been the reason weā€™re close, especially in a midfield were our best mids are < 100 games, having someone just body cunnington all day every day. ā– ā– ā– ā–  north.

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You obviously didnā€™t watch the game , has the cleanest ,hands in the club.

Cunnington (200 odd games over his career) has this year (excluding yesterday) been averaging 28.4 disposals (17 contested) and 8 clearances.

Yesterday, Dylan Clarke (in only his 7th AFL game,) kept Cunnington to 15 disposals (7 contested,) and 2 clearances. Clarke basically halved him.

BTW, so far this year (excluding our game against Carlton in R11,) Cripps has averaged 28.7 disposals (17 contested) and 8.7 clearances. When we played Carlton in R11, Clarke kept him to 11 disposals (9 contested,) and 2 clearances.

If this is Wooshaā€™s idea of ā€œnot tagging,ā€ I hope we continue to use Dylan Clarke to ā€œnot tagā€ the oppositionsā€™ best mids.

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He doesnā€™t turn 21 until September.

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I love this guy.

I donā€™t know why but it gave me a smile just watching him push that Cunnington ā– ā– ā– ā–  at every centre bounce. Was really physical with him.

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I was really impressed by that. He just laughed it off and moved on. Doesnā€™t look flustered or fazed at all.

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He doesnā€™t look that big at all. Very strong.

Going into the game Cunnington was the biggest threat Norf had, and has been since Higgins injury. This was as dangerous a game as we could have faced at this stage of the season. Norf had some seriously good form coming into the game. Clarke nullified Cunnington completely, it was a great effort.

ā€œAnother one bites the dust, and another oneā€™s gone, and another oneā€™s gone, etc.ā€

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Your criticism ignores that a player can adapt to the way the umps are calling it. Clarke did it because the umps allowed it

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Thats a fair call but I would have been ropeable if it was being done to one of our players.

F@rk yeah, I was loving it. Not afraid of the physical stuff and super strong in the contest, heā€™s like an Octopus with those tackles.

If I was @Deckham Iā€™d be calling him Octopusā€¦Occyā€¦puss, the ā– ā– ā– ā– ā–  eater. But Iā€™m not, so we wonā€™t.

Mods, feel free to ban me. And Deckham for that matter.

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Banned in abstentia. I love it. :rofl:

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Should have happened already, Iā€™m just calling the Mods out!

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Stringer copped similar treatment when he went in the middle - the second center bounce in the last quarter is a good example.

I donā€™t think Clarke was over doing it - and if he can manage to niggle without giving kicks away, even better.