Delisted #4 Ryan 'The Clamps' Clarke

[Kennedy Parker]

Ryan Clarke

Player Profile
The Sydney Swans recruited Ryan Clarke from North Melbourne ahead of season 2019 and he’s since shown promising signs as a young midfielder. The number four is a prolific ball-winner and can also be used to blanket a star on-baller, which he proved last year in shutting down gun Kangaroo Shaun Higgins and classy Magpie Steele Sidebottom. Clarke played 14 senior games in a stop-start 2019 campaign and has set his sights on cementing a spot in coach John Longmire’s best 22 this year. Draft history: 2015 National Draft selection (North Melbourne), No. 31 overall

Ryan Clarke

4

Ryan Clarke

Age

27

Ht

186cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

18.8

5star

K

9.1

4star

HB

9.7

5star

M

3.4

3star

T

2.2

4star

G

0.2

2star

D

18.5

4star

K

8.8

4star

HB

9.8

5star

M

1.8

2star

T

2.5

3star

G

0.3

3star

D

19.6

5star

K

7.0

3star

HB

12.6

5star

M

2.4

3star

T

2.2

4star

G

0.0

1star

DOB:17 June 1997
DEBUT:2016
DRAFT:2015
RECRUITED FROM: Rowville (Vic)/Melb Grammar (Vic)/Eastern U18/North Melb

Ryan Clarke | AFL

Follow Ryan Clarke's progress through AFL

www.sydneyswans.com.au

 

[GoTheSwannies]

The comments seem pretty unanimous. He's played his role as well as we could have expected and adds a dimension to our team that we haven't been able to achieve through anyone else.

He has to stay in surely.

 

[Kiama Chris]

Even if Clarke never plays another Seniors game he delivers terrific value to the club. He is clearly well liked by his teammates.
Hope he goes around next year.

 

[BloodRet]

Hated seeing this guys name on the team sheet couple/few years ago and wanted him dropped every week with his horrendous disposal. Now it’s the opposite, begging horse to keep him in. Has clearly worked on his game hard in the reserves and it shows. He’s best 22, all of a sudden seems like a really important player for us

 

[Banyo Bloods]

He has a role and one that suits his attributes.

He is probably a poor performance away from being on the out again but talk about taking your opportunity.

He seems the ultimate clubman (like Sinclair) if there is a clear match up for him then give him the job as he hasn’t let us down so far.

Kudos to him for continued commitment and hard work at reserves level.

 

[Kiama Chris]

HB in The Mongrel Punt gives Clarke a nice little write up. Points out that of Dale's 10 possessions in Q1 8 were kick ins! Nice.

 

[SSwans2011]

Give him a job on Aish or Clark next week, please Horse. They've been a big part of the Dockers improvement this year. Can be moved onto someone else if they necessitate it.

 

[grimlock]

Claims another victim in Clark and annoyed him so much he gave away that free kick for the Buddy goal

Next week…maybe Dawson?

 

[BarneyBent]

Wasn't quite as solid as his last two games, made a few errors under pressure, but was still a good contributor. This new role for him is very promising. I like it. Let's keep it going.

 

[Dan87]

Claims another victim in Clark and annoyed him so much he gave away that free kick for the Buddy goal

Next week…maybe Dawson?

Dawson will push up and demolish him overhead

Sorry

 

[RUNVS]

Wasn't quite as solid as his last two games, made a few errors under pressure, but was still a good contributor. This new role for him is very promising. I like it. Let's keep it going.

Made a few errors sure but he was also involved in some good play as well. He is quite good handballing in congestion. Was happy with his game.

 

[wills2g]

Dawson will push up and demolish him overhead

Sorry

If Dawson is up forward, have you seen the rest of Adelaide? They wont get it past half way

 

[Millky95]

If Dawson is up forward, have you seen the rest of Adelaide? They wont get it past half way

More meant on the wing probably

 

[Kennedy Parker]

Won't lose another game with him in the team.

 

[BloodRet]

Won't lose another game with him in the team.

Simply can’t drop him, hopefully horse knows this

 

[Banyo Bloods]

Amazing credit to him and his persistence and hard work.

From popular opinion of don’t want him anywhere near the seniors again to must play him in his current role.

So happy for him.

Nice little contract extension coming you’d think.

 

[RUNVS]

Amazing credit to him and his persistence and hard work.

From popular opinion of don’t want him anywhere near the seniors again to must play him in his current role.

So happy for him.

Nice little contract extension coming you’d think.

Yep. Tagging has not been in vogue in recent years but it is a valuable thing to have in a teams tool kit. Now Mills can do it, and do it really well but we do not want to use Mills in that role for obvious reasons, and Clarke is also very good at it. Being very strategic and working out exactly who gives the opposition their drive when attacking and getting Clarke to nullify that attack is a huge asset for us.

 

[Banyo Bloods]

Yep. Tagging has not been in vogue in recent years but it is a valuable thing to have in a teams tool kit. Now Mills can do it, and do it really well but we do not want to use Mills in that role for obvious reasons, and Clarke is also very good at it. Being very strategic and working out exactly who gives the opposition their drive when attacking and getting Clarke to nullify that attack is a huge asset for us.

I’ve watched De Boar of GWS take some good scalps and wondered why other teams don’t employ it.

Won’t ever be Kirk and he may be one bad game away from where it doesn’t work where his spot is shaky again but...can’t deny his hard work and commitment to the job and team.

Great lesson for fringe players if they want it bad enough.

 

[S120]

I think what Clarke and Finn Maginness at Hawthorn are showing is that you can absolutely tag uncontested, running type of players out of having an influence on games. Wingmen or half back flankers. It's harder to stop the contested players like Cripps and Petracca out of a game fully because they're always around the ball and they're just so powerful, it's unlikely a bit part player who is a tagger can consistently keep them out of the play. But if you're strength is getting to open space and finding uncontested ball, you can set a disciplined tagger with excellent running power to go with them all the way and curtail their role. Clarke is making himself undroppable right now because of his traits and how many teams rely heavily on skill and speed from the back half to set their games up. Loving it. Jordan Dawson

12

Jordan Dawson

Age

27

Ht

190cm

Wt

91kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.0

4star

K

11.4

4star

HB

5.7

4star

M

4.8

5star

T

2.8

4star

CL

0.6

3star

D

15.7

4star

K

10.9

4star

HB

4.9

3star

M

2.9

3star

T

2.0

3star

CL

0.4

3star

D

11.8

3star

K

7.8

3star

HB

4.0

3star

M

5.0

5star

T

3.0

5star

CL

0.6

3star

is next.

 

[J_Moore]

I think what Clarke and Finn Maginness at Hawthorn are showing is that you can absolutely tag uncontested, running type of players out of having an influence on games. Wingmen or half back flankers. It's harder to stop the contested players like Cripps and Petracca out of a game fully because they're always around the ball and they're just so powerful, it's unlikely a bit part player who is a tagger can consistently keep them out of the play. But if you're strength is getting to open space and finding uncontested ball, you can set a disciplined tagger with excellent running power to go with them all the way and curtail their role. Clarke is making himself undroppable right now because of his traits and how many teams rely heavily on skill and speed from the back half to set their games up. Loving it. Jordan Dawson is next.

There’s also a cost to having a tagger in the middle - you’re basically also one down at the playing if your
tagger is focusing on playing a negative role. That’s less of an issue with this type of tag - Clarke can still play a positive role when the ball is in dispute (hence the goals) and shift focus when the opposition takes possession

 

[Ticky009]

Amazing credit to him and his persistence and hard work.

From popular opinion of don’t want him anywhere near the seniors again to must play him in his current role.

So happy for him.

Nice little contract extension coming you’d think.

So much this - has done everything asked of him. Well bloody played Ryan!

 

[Millky95]

There’s also a cost to having a tagger in the middle - you’re basically also one down at the playing if your
tagger is focusing on playing a negative role. That’s less of an issue with this type of tag - Clarke can still play a positive role when the ball is in dispute (hence the goals) and shift focus when the opposition takes possession

Let's look at it this way:

We play a forward structure of: 2x talls, 1x resting ruck, 2x forward flankers, 2x smalls (with 1 of these on the bench at any given time, a mid resting forward). Our talls are fine (Franklin + 1 one of McLean, McDonald and Amartey). Our flankers are fine (Heeney, Hayward with Gulden and Parker resting forward).

Looking at our smalls we have Papley (16 goals from 11 games) taking up one of those spots. Our 2nd small we have tried, Wicks (4 goals, 8 games), Ronke (6 goals, 7 games), Sheldrick (0 goals, 2 games), Bell (4 goals, 6 games), Campbell a few times for very little and now Clarke (3 goals in 4 games 1 of which he was the sub and never activated)

What is our 2nd small forward offering us? Not a lot in terms of goals, maybe some in pressure, tackles and turn over (I don't have stats that show scores form F50 turnover or TI50 numbers). So if this position isn't kicking goals with a small what do we do with it? Add another tall? The ball will rebound too quickly as we aren't a super strong contested marking side (our talls all get in each others way imo). So we play a negating role instead.

We make it a 17 on 17 game instead of 18 on 17 as this position isn't kicking goals anyway. But not only do we make it 17 on 17, we take out a key ball mover for the opposition. In games we have lost our half backs haven't had much run and carry or a lot of metres gained. A lot of teams are scoring on the back of rebounds from half back. If we can kill that, the ball locked in our F50, repeat entries from turn over or stoppages down the line as opposed to rebounded and scored against.

It would be like if we were allowed to play Blakey on the field but he wasn't allowed to touch the ball. It takes out an opposition weapon for a spot that we weren't really using anyway

 

[scaryness]

Swans havent seen this kind of career revival since Deano, the little ruckman that could.

 

[SwansProudly]

Ryan gets praise


from about 11:45

The greatest goal in Bomber history, forgotten Dee worth the punt

Matthew Lloyd and Damian Barrett come together to discuss a huge weekend

www.afl.com.au

 

[Banyo Bloods]

Looks like our secret weapon ain't so secret anymore.

 

[Bloods86]

Good on him. Stalwart for the reserves, thought he was on the way out this year, and only to be used as a midfield tagger in rare situations. If he can keep this up as a tagger in the forward line, sign him up.