Clarke not going back to Collingwood?

[nrico2006]

Best of Luck Marty wherever you go. Even when you have a quiet game you still manage 3 or 4 points.
Lit up the championship last year with some outstanding performances, and i have a feeling that you may have one or two more before the summer is out.
Major loss to Gaelic football as will young Caolan Mooney.

Loads of players have quiet games and still hit 3 or 4 frees, and I think it difficult to count how many games he actually was outstanding in last year.  Definitely the most over-rated player of recent times, based on what he actually did in Senior County football.

[Dubh driocht]

nrico, I shouldn't rise but your comment doesn't stand up to any serious scrutiny.
Last year Marty played 7 league games and 8 championship games in his debut senior season, having not played gaelic football for 3 years. In those 15 games, he was MOM in 9 .He scored 1-25 in the league and 1-30 in the championship.This year he has played 7 league games and 1 championship game so far- MOM in 3,
So , to make it easy for you, excluding the Mc Kenna Cup he has played 23 competitive games for Down and has been MOM in 12. That is 52% of senior games played. Unbelievable .That is not difficult to count and is a reminder that he is a special talent.

[Jinxy]

In all fairness, he was getting MOTM in games where other Down players had better games.
A lot of those should have gone to Danny Hughes.
The media love Marty though.

[macdanger2]

This might come as a surprise but the best performing Irishman in the AFL at the moment is Pearce Hanley. His game on Sunday was super - he seems to be improving with every outing. The lad has some serious pace.

Good to hear it - I was actuallly just watching the highlights the other night on TG4 and checked up online how he has been doing this season, played in 8 from 8 so far. Pity BL are doing so poorly though. We could have done with him yesterday.......

[Onlooker]

In all fairness, he was getting MOTM in games where other Down players had better games.
A lot of those should have gone to Danny Hughes.
The media love Marty though.

I agree with you with regards to Danny Hughes.  He is a player that I have admired for a long time, but he never got the credit that he was due until last year's Championship run by Down.

[Mid Down Gael]

nrico, I shouldn't rise but your comment doesn't stand up to any serious scrutiny.
Last year Marty played 7 league games and 8 championship games in his debut senior season, having not played gaelic football for 3 years. In those 15 games, he was MOM in 9 .He scored 1-25 in the league and 1-30 in the championship.This year he has played 7 league games and 1 championship game so far- MOM in 3,
So , to make it easy for you, excluding the Mc Kenna Cup he has played 23 competitive games for Down and has been MOM in 12. That is 52% of senior games played. Unbelievable .That is not difficult to count and is a reminder that he is a special talent.

Wonderful footballer. We will miss him badly, Down will struggle without Marty, irreplacable imo.

[borderfox]

Sure you still have his brother John.

[Tony Baloney]

nrico, I shouldn't rise but your comment doesn't stand up to any serious scrutiny.
Last year Marty played 7 league games and 8 championship games in his debut senior season, having not played gaelic football for 3 years. In those 15 games, he was MOM in 9 .He scored 1-25 in the league and 1-30 in the championship.This year he has played 7 league games and 1 championship game so far- MOM in 3,
So , to make it easy for you, excluding the Mc Kenna Cup he has played 23 competitive games for Down and has been MOM in 12. That is 52% of senior games played. Unbelievable .That is not difficult to count and is a reminder that he is a special talent.

You boys really don't like any criticism of goldenballs. He goes missing far too often. Plenty of grafters on that squad that give it 100% EVERY match. You'd be better off building a squad without him.

[NP 76]

Looks like we are going to have too Tony but Clarke is a class act . This fella came home to a team just out of div 3 and imo was the biggest help we had in getting to an All Ireland final in his first year playing senior inter county football . This was after playing no gaelic for almost 3 years so any one knocking what he did for us last year seems to have a chip on their shoulder with him . Even when he went missing in games he still was averaging 5 or 6 pts a game . Sad to see him leaving but can go with his head held high . Good luck Martin

[ross matt]

Best of Luck Marty wherever you go. Even when you have a quiet game you still manage 3 or 4 points.
Lit up the championship last year with some outstanding performances, and i have a feeling that you may have one or two more before the summer is out.
Major loss to Gaelic football as will young Caolan Mooney.

Loads of players have quiet games and still hit 3 or 4 frees, and I think it difficult to count how many games he actually was outstanding in last year.  Definitely the most over-rated player of recent times, based on what he actually did in Senior County football.

I agree 100% and I'm not stirring it. Many people I've talked to have said the same. The media had a fascination with him as they had with Kennelly because of their AFL background. Marty was good last year and is a  decent free taker. Has excellent vision. Kicks some great passes. Takes the odd score from play. But so do alot of players in other counties. Best to luck to him if he returns to Oz or if he stays. Comes across as down to earth solid guy in interviews but I do think he is over rated.

[PAULD123]

Look guys, Marty was superb the other night. he didn't have his best ever game but as he is a passer his best ever game partly relies on the guys around him playing well. Marty isn't a particularly physical footballer and so he relies on good passes coming in and players showing well for his pass. But make no mistake, when Down were falling apart he kept us in it. feeding of scraps of possession he pulled enough strings to take us a point ahead.

The rest of the team let him down. it is a lot easier to mark the best player in the team if the other players are performing so poorly that they hardly need marking.

One big criticism of him though is that he has no great ability to beat a man and run away from him, Marty can only do what he does in clear space, his pace is well down the list of Down attackers. McKeever was able to stand up to him, slow him down and therefore restrict him to passing only. On a dirty night it isn't so easy to hit good passes to light forwards.

We have the rest of the summer (how ever long that may last) to asses Marty. I think he has done enough already to be allowed the right to be judged then and not now.

[orchard 8195]

Best of Luck Marty wherever you go. Even when you have a quiet game you still manage 3 or 4 points.
Lit up the championship last year with some outstanding performances, and i have a feeling that you may have one or two more before the summer is out.
Major loss to Gaelic football as will young Caolan Mooney.

Loads of players have quiet games and still hit 3 or 4 frees, and I think it difficult to count how many games he actually was outstanding in last year.  Definitely the most over-rated player of recent times, based on what he actually did in Senior County football.

I agree 100% and I'm not stirring it. Many people I've talked to have said the same. The media had a fascination with him as they had with Kennelly because of their AFL background. Marty was good last year and is a  decent free taker. Has excellent vision. Kicks some great passes. Takes the odd score from play. But so do alot of players in other counties. Best to luck to him if he returns to Oz or if he stays. Comes across as down to earth solid guy in interviews but I do think he is over rated.

Again i dont have a personal vendetta against Marty Clarke nor do i have any particular dislikening towards down but i have said previously on this board that he is extremely hyped up by the media. I am also of the opinion that his time at aussie rules has had a negative impact on his Gaelic Football game. Paul you say that he isnt as pacey as other down players and cant take players on. I think this due to bulking up too much while in Australia and in the Aussie Rules game he was not able to take players on. Before he left anybody that saw the lad play could testify to his absolutly blistering pace and ball carrying ability. I know players have to adapt to be able to play senior intercounty football but i think a lotve what marked him out as an underage protege he has lost. People will say that you have to adapt to play senior intercounty but name to me another underage talent who was a success at senior level and didnt have the very same playing style as he did throughout. The lad will undoubtidly be a big miss to down football but in my opinion not as big a miss as if Danny Hughes or Benny Coulter would be. Look if he declared for Armagh tomorrow id be over the moon but i just feel he is slightly over rated. Like give me Pa Kelly, Paul Kerrigan, Dec/Dar o sull, Dan Hughes james kavanagh, Sean Cavanagh before him.

[NP 76]

Good post orchard lost his pace in oz but also learnt to off load the ball quicker so as to avoid the hit . He never tries to take the man on content to pass it but still would rather have him than not have him class act

[PAULD123]

Again i dont have a personal vendetta against Marty Clarke nor do i have any particular dislikening towards down but i have said previously on this board that he is extremely hyped up by the media. I am also of the opinion that his time at aussie rules has had a negative impact on his Gaelic Football game. Paul you say that he isnt as pacey as other down players and cant take players on. I think this due to bulking up too much while in Australia and in the Aussie Rules game he was not able to take players on. Before he left anybody that saw the lad play could testify to his absolutly blistering pace and ball carrying ability. I know players have to adapt to be able to play senior intercounty football but i think a lotve what marked him out as an underage protege he has lost. People will say that you have to adapt to play senior intercounty but name to me another underage talent who was a success at senior level and didnt have the very same playing style as he did throughout. The lad will undoubtidly be a big miss to down football but in my opinion not as big a miss as if Danny Hughes or Benny Coulter would be. Look if he declared for Armagh tomorrow id be over the moon but i just feel he is slightly over rated. Like give me Pa Kelly, Paul Kerrigan, Dec/Dar o sull, Dan Hughes james kavanagh, Sean Cavanagh before him.

A very fair post I think, also I agree with you on the point you made about bulking up. Though you are wrong about players not changing their style to step up to seniors. Many midfielders become half backs because they don'e grow enough between minor & senior and specifically Greg Blaney started as a speedy poaching full forward and ended as an all star play-maker. But I understand your point and it is correct that though he is OUR most influential player there are better players out there. However you listed some of the best players around as a comparison and that alone says quite a lot doesn't it?

One thing for sure is that he is not "the most over-rated player of recent times" that is as equally unfair as claiming he is the best player of recent times.

But yeah, perhaps a little over-hyped and certainly probably because of a prurient obsession of the media that anyone who has ever been selected for an Aussie Rules team must automatically be a Gaelic football great!!!

[Hardy]

I think the overrating of MC is overrated. I think some people have gone too far with the assumption that if the media hype him, well he's nothing but a creature of media hype. Also, I detect an element of what I used to identify as Trevor Giles syndrome. Giles was such a talented player that if he didn't absolutely dominate a game, people were disappointed. There was hardly a championship game in his career after which someone in my company didn't say "Giles was poor today" or something similar. In nearly all of those games, he would have been a least one of the best performers and biggest contributors on view. When a player is known to be great, we expect greatness in every touch and make no allowances.

In my eyes, Clarke is nearly always a huge contributor in every game. Apart from his free-taking, which is exceptional, his positional sense, unfailing availability to take the pass, ability to take the right (often simple) option more often than not and low error count are special.

I agree that the AFL experience is a negative and but for it he would be outstanding. The Aussie stuff kills off a lot of the natural instincts of a Gaelic footballer, chief among them the inclination and ability to take on the tackle and either run through it or sidestep it. Clarke almost never tries it. You get creamed or penalised if you do that in AR and players exposed to that stuff seem to forget it's part of the essence of Gaelic.