#37 Dylan Alwyn Clarke - at Woodville West Torrens

Dylan played on the wing against the Suns it would seem. Puzzling. Contested ball is supposed to be his forte. He was OK. Anyway. 11 disposals off 66% tog equivalent to about 15 disposals for a full game at 90% tog . For kicking efficiency he was 9th running at 81% incl 1 clanger which tends to dispel the knock on his kicking. Clearly he picked his targets and executed OK.

Lets see how he goes in the the VFL.

You think the knocks on his kicking were dispelled in a game when he kicked the ball three times, one of which was a clanger? His kicking action looks pretty awkward to me.

Could be a Swann and running thing, looks bad but effective, he did ok in the kicking at draft camp too.

He was said to be a crap kick by draft experts, and the club when we drafted him. Letā€™s not pretend heā€™s something that he is not. Heā€™s got plenty of other great attributes to get excited about, and he may well become a good kick in time. At the moment his kicking is an obvious weakness. There is no way he would have gone so late in the draft if it wasnā€™t.


Well, to be fair some draft experts also criticised his decision making in close. That he got the ball a lot, but didnā€™t use it well/fast (including handball). So kicking wasnā€™t the only potential knock.

I watched him today and in the intraclub (on replay), and he looks ok but has a way to go. Like most draftees.

In the u15ā€™s and u17ā€™s he played in an almost unbeatable team. He was THE player the other teams wanted to control because he was so damaging.
Now, that was two years back and heā€™s in the big time so things have changed. His deficiencies will be taken advantage of at this level. However, heā€™s a determined kid, as highlighted by his self driven individual pre draft pre season running and fitness campaign.
He might take a couple of years but I have good thoughts about his footy. Fantasia has only just come on really, in what his 3rd or fourth season now? Time and opportunity helps these youngunā€™s.

Hardest part is winning your own footy he does this easy. Should attach himself to Jobes hip.
I don't think Virginia would like this.

Jobeā€™s T cells would also react aggressively.

When he kicks he makes kicking look painful.

Ever been kicked? Usualy doesnā€™t tickle

He showed alot of promise today. He still needs to work on his kicking though. Well see him vastly improve by midway through the season with a good dose of VFL footy under his belt

Dylan played on the wing against the Suns it would seem. Puzzling. Contested ball is supposed to be his forte. He was OK. Anyway. 11 disposals off 66% tog equivalent to about 15 disposals for a full game at 90% tog . For kicking efficiency he was 9th running at 81% incl 1 clanger which tends to dispel the knock on his kicking. Clearly he picked his targets and executed OK.

Lets see how he goes in the the VFL.


Average TOG is around 82%, not 90% in the AFL.

Clarke has a big tank, he will be well above average when/if he plays AFL, which will probably be in 2018.

He definitely reminds me of clint jones the way he moves around. Is a little bit slower than i expected but has good size about him which could see him fill a role down the line.

They say talls take longer to develop. Equally, inside mid bulls can take time to get to the size to do what they did as kids.

No rush, and plenty of time.

Yeah dont expect much from him this year. 2years VFL will do him wonders.

His ball drop reminds me of Paul Hills who could also get the yips bouncing the thing.

I just think itā€™s a matter of getting his drop a tiny bit more ā€˜activeā€™. In a good ball drop the two hands bring the ball from somewhere between the nOn kicking hip and body centreline, to right in front of the kicking leg, and the hands rise slightly from below hip height to about or slightly above hip height. That inertia from bringing the ball across and up - not very far and decisively but not violently - allows tha drop hand to ā€˜hangā€™ slightly on the ball as it decelerates so that you control the drop. Itā€™s an illusion that the hand stays on the ball as it drops, it really doesnā€™t. It just holds on the ball fro a split second as it decelerates from that across/up ā€˜throwā€™. But Clarke doesnā€™t get that across/up throw and subsequent slightly decisive ā€˜hangā€™ just before the ball starts dropping, rather the two hands move slowly with out rapid acceleration/deceleration towards the drop zone and slowly peel off the ball a tad earlier than most good drops. I used to love watching Scott Lucasā€™ ball drop. Heā€™d tee the ball to that perfect slot in front of his left hip and it would sit in the drop had for a microsecond, absolutely still relative to his movement, before dropping vertically so that mule kick hit right through the centre. Was a beautiful thing.

He definitely reminds me of clint jones the way he moves around. Is a little bit slower than i expected but has good size about him which could see him fill a role down the line.

Yep not to mention he looks like him lol

From the latest BomberTV episode with Darren Bewick:

He will be a 200 game player. Heā€™s got some faults that he works really hard on, but his strengths are real strengths. There is a knock on his kicking, but he became better at that in terms of his decision making and not exposing that. Heā€™s elite in clearance work and contested ball. Heā€™s clean around the ball. He sees the game really well. Elite endurance.

There is a player there that once, I think, given his opportunity, and hopefully the club are putting a lot work into those areas that we spoke about before, youā€™re going to get a really good player.

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I cant see Essendon playing him on ball with Hepps, and Merrett round it.

Shows traits of Pat Cripps and would love to see him given that chance, but in the JLT game he played, they chucked him on the wing FFS

Over the past 2 weeks he has racked up some OK numbers, without having significant impact on games .
Round 1. 25D 2 T
Round 2 18D 1G1
It seems its a big jump going from TAC cup to playing as an inside mid with Bird, Howlett, Hocking, Myers and NOB who tend to be the major clearance winners at stoppages.
But the club are giving him every chance to adapt to the level. When he is on the field he has attended most centre bounces.
Against Collingwood his disposals were down, but his kicking was better overall,even kicking a set shot from 40 out ! .

Looking forward to continuing improvement.

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I thought he was quite good against Collingwood given that he didnā€™t get much time to do his inside mid thing with Myers dominating. His kicking action is going to be his achilles heel though. His kickng is accurate enough when he has time to steady and painfully slowly place the ball on his boot but he wonā€™t get that at AFL level.

Handballs too much but looks pretty good

If they can teach Connor to kick like he does I have no doubt they will sort his kicking out.

In Diesel we trust.

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Wasnā€™t conor shaping up to be a gaelic superstar?

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In another era (maybe even two or three years ago) heā€™d be a dead-set certainty to be trained up as a tagger.

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Maybe but I doubt it. Conor was a blank page to work on but Clarke has no doubt been kicking like this since he first picked up a football and it is really hard to radically change an ingrained kicking action.

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