#37 Dylan Alwyn Clarke - at Woodville West Torrens

Well, from his bio there’s a lot to be enthused about. Would be good to see what he can do in the seniors. Hopefully he gets a game or 2 …

Clarke won All Australian honours after averaging 24 disposals a game during the national championships, with more than half those touches won in contested situations.

That’s what he does so well: he can get his hands on the ball over and over when others want it, and he is very strong over a contest.

Clarke’s hands are quick and precise, and he led the championships for clearances, averaging six a game in Metro’s division one winning team.
Clarke is what you see - a hard-running, endurance beast who finished third in the 3km time trial at the NAB AFL Draft Combine and just racks up the numbers every week. Will need to develop but should develop nicely.

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I would say that only Clarke and Mutch (and maybe Myers) have that first instinct to fight and scrap for the ball at ground level without any fear of injury.

The kid is a genuine contested beast.

Myers has a fear of injury just getting out of bed.

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I think talent has been Myers biggest problem not injury.

Matt Priddis didn’t get on a list until he was 21 and always had limitations in his kicking (though it improved). it is definitively worth being patient with Clark. I’d be locking him in for 2 full years as a VFL mid and then reassessing him.

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Will play some senior footy this year imo.

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I have a belief that Dyl was doing really well early on in the VFL last year.

Then they moved him out of the centre to work on his kicking and disposal. This is fine from a development perspective, but did reduce his output, as it isn’t his natural game.

This year they have moved on a lot of the big bodies that were in the centre last year. Dyl is going to get a lot of time in there, and I expect he will be a big improver in the VFL side.

I still do not know if he can make it in the AFL. But I do know he is a very hard worker, and if it’s possible, he’ll make it.

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Disagree. He has played 100 games in 11 seasons, mainly due to injury. Has at times (not last year) shown that he can play.

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I have never rated him.

Thats just me though. For mine an inside midfielder has to have great hands and Myers has never been good in close.

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After his stint at half forward, ( designed no doubt to enable him to work on his kicking) surely he will be moved to the inside midfield in the VFL this season and take part in the rotations with Myers, Guelfi , Mutch and Mynott. I personally see Mutch and Guelfi more as wingmen so his is going to be very interesting, because it would be all too easy to select Myers ahead of the younger players, but hopefully Clarke will stake his claim to get a run at AFL level this year, in case of injury or form loss of some best 22 players.

Edit. Oops I forgot Heath Hocking is going to be in at the stoppages in the VFL bigtime.

Just my impression, until the end of 2017, Myers always took the back seat at stoppages , and Jobe was always the one with his head over the ball. David Myers picked up the scraps on average chiming in with about half the number of clearances as Jobe.

It would be interesting to see how David Myers played if he was given the Jobe role. I saw a sample of it last year in the VFL, when he dropped himself for 2 games and was clearly BOG in both the first with 32 possessions, 12 clearances and three score assists, the second 35 touches, seven clearances and nine inside 50s.

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The trouble I find with comparing Myers at VFL level as opposed to AFL level is the time you are afforded to make decisions.

I attended both games and although he did very well he was allowed a lot more freedom to make good decisions that what hes allowed against AFL level opponents.

From what I remember in his Jnr years he was more an outside player with some pace that setup play from half back. The hamstring injuries he copped early and the continued development in his body probably forced the change in his game and I believe has contributed to his lack of nous around contests.

Jobe has always had that inside ability and vision and some of the best hands in the business. I just don’t see it with Myers.

Yep. He tended to be the first receiver at stoppages and was often able to run into space and hoof the ball.

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That’s effectively his game at senior level also but due to the speed of the game and the more complex structures he generally just belts it long without any thought unfortunately.

FWIW, Hocking didn’t spend a lot of time in the middle in 2017; I doubt that will change in 2018.

Unless they can totally rebuild his kicking, I really don’t see an AFL career for Clarke.

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You’re a glass half empty, them pour out that half, then break the class type person!

Dont many of us look for a victory of hope over common sense ? Otherwise why would so many people in the world believe in the divine.

What on earth has happened to the Blitz ‘could be anything’ mentality?

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He got on the list on the back of winning the Sandover at 20/21 though…

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Yeah so let’s see what Clarke can do after a couple of years in the vfl

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