A Mulwala boy through and through, Clarke grew up playing his junior football with the Lions and engrained himself in the fabric of what is one of the league’s proudest clubs.
Moving up through the ranks, he has become an integral part of Mulwala’s senior set-up in recent years, and despite moving to Melbourne has still made the effort to travel back across the Murray River and play with his beloved home town team.
And like the vast majority of his teammates, this weekend he will get the opportunity to don the maroon and blue on grand final day for the first time and potentially be part of the squad that breaks the Lions’ 32-year premiership drought.
“It is very exciting (to be playing in the grand final), I think most of our team is one pointers and have played footy at Mulwala as juniors and climbed the ranks, so it is pretty special to be able to run out on grand final day with this group,” Clarke said of the opportunity to play in a grand final.
“Even just walking off after the prelim last weekend and seeing all the supporters in the rooms, the old fellas that do so much around the club and what it meant to them, it is why we run out each week.
“The joy making this grand final has given the town, it is very special.”
The connection Clarke has with the playing group and the town has been the main factor driving him back to play each year, with the three-hour journey being a small price to pay to be able to run out alongside his best mates every week.
“We have a pretty core group and a lot of my mates still play at the club, so I’ve loved getting back up and playing my footy with Mulwala,” he said.
“When I first moved down, originally I was just going to play the one year, but I think I am up to my third or fourth now, so whether this is my last year it’d be great to go out on top.
“But although the drive can be tough at times, when I get back to the club and see all the great people involved, it makes it all worth it.”
And as for what it would mean to call himself a Mulwala premiership player.
Clarke struggled to put into words how significant the achievement would be.
“It is everything (for me), my decision to drive back up for another year was to chase this premiership and now we are almost there it is a bit surreal,” he said.
“It has been a long time between drinks for all the supporters and the volunteers who put in so much work week-to-week, so to give something back in the form of a premiership would mean everything.”
