Marty Clarke to make debut

[Tiger Craig]

Cheers 5ive! Fair play to Clarke.

Good luck to him. Hopefully I'll be at the Collingwood-Geelong game next week

But, he is a soft outside receiver at this stage

[redandblackjack]

Cheers 5ive! Fair play to Clarke.

Good luck to him. Hopefully I'll be at the Collingwood-Geelong game next week

But, he is a soft outside receiver at this stage

And also a kid on the other side of the world playing a mans game in every respect! He has had a great year.

[Aerlik]

It was a great game from a neutral fan' s perspective.  Marty gave a great pass in the last 2 minutes of extra time for a goal.  He even got a compliment from Lee matthews one of the C7 commentators for keeping playmaker Michael Braun quiet all the game.  He seemed to have had a lot of game time too. 

Ah well that's the one and only time I'll be slightly happy the pies ever won a game.

H'man the Dockers.

[An Laoch]

Clarke had a good game alright and the commentators spoke highly of him throughout. Great vision for that goal towards the end.

Having watched Collingwood's last 2 games and Geelong's last 2 also, I think Collingwood go out of games for periods and this will be punished by a team as efficient as the Cats.

[hitzelsperger]

Sad to see my eagles beat today but fair play to clarkey for getting where he has got to, i bet the o'halpins are in awe of how hes taken to the game and become a star in such a short time...cant see magpies beating the cats but ya never know! il be bartracking for them anyhow

[Aerlik]

Chris Judd, the undisputed superstar of the competition has just announced that he will be leaving the WC Egos.   Big shock for the chardonnay set I'd imagine with the ponces on the South Perth foreshore choking on their caviar.  That's part two of the three-part Eagles "super" midfield on the way out leaving Daniel Kerr to shoulder the responsibility (providing he can keep out of jail). 
Cousins' injury is the first he has had for many, many months making you wonder if all that meth-anphet he was pumping into his body was the reason he stayed so fit and so injury free.

Talk is Judd will be joining either Collingwood or Carlton with the latter favourites and already a price tag of $7.5 million over three years  on the card.  What a boost that would be for either Marty or Setanta to have the man along side them.  Mind you I'd love for him to go to Freo but that won't happen. Period.

[corn02]

Watched the match, Clarke was very quiet but certainly made it up for it by playing werll in OT when it mattered.

Geelong should have a few to spare on friday but you never know.

[hitzelsperger]

Chris Judd, the undisputed superstar of the competition has just announced that he will be leaving the WC Egos.   Big shock for the chardonnay set I'd imagine with the ponces on the South Perth foreshore choking on their caviar.  That's part two of the three-part Eagles "super" midfield on the way out leaving Daniel Kerr to shoulder the responsibility (providing he can keep out of jail). 
Cousins' injury is the first he has had for many, many months making you wonder if all that meth-anphet he was pumping into his body was the reason he stayed so fit and so injury free.

Talk is Judd will be joining either Collingwood or Carlton with the latter favourites and already a price tag of $7.5 million over three years  on the card.  What a boost that would be for either Marty or Setanta to have the man along side them.  Mind you I'd love for him to go to Freo but that won't happen. Period.
[/quote



fcukin gutted that judd is leaving eagles, the most exciting player in the league, watchin him take off and run past men for fun is a sight to behold...personally wouldnt mind him going to carlton cos i have a bit of a soft spot for them on the other hand it would be great to see marty clarke playing alongside someone like judd...

is judd the best player in the league?? on top form he is unstoppable who comes close? riewoldt, thomas and franklin?

[Aerlik]

Judd is by far the best, provided he is fit.  Riewoldt comes into the category of a tall forward so doesn't work near as hard as Judd.  Mind you Judd is about 6'1" or 6'2".
Franklin is still young and is an out and out forward with pretty good feet but again nowhere near as the Judd-ernaut.  If Cousins was clean for all these past few years he'd be very close to Judd but as it is he will be forever known as the drug cheat and the Egos as the club that shielded him.

[zoyler]

For anybody with the timeoff or on the doss Prelim Final is on setanta  - Sky Chanel 430 starting 10.30 Friday Morning.  The game is a sell out which means approx 100,000 tickets have been sold for the game under lights at the MCG.

All we need now is a big upset and Marty is into THE FINAL IN HIS ROOKIE YEAR.

[kinghen]

just seen the highlights from the WCE match on tg4 last night! fair play to marty, im sure there would be alot more noise made about it if an amateur soccer player (same age)was scouted by a top premiership club and was starting to make an impact for the 1st side, in his 1st season!

[goldenyears]

Clarke set for Final Coll 
Australian Rules Football 
By Ahmer Khokhar 

Relaxation in the form of attending a Snow Patrol concert in Melbourne yesterday and staying up to watch Derby County win their first Premiership match of the season against Newcastle United afterwards is the name of the game for Martin Clarke this week.

The former Down minor star, who won All-Ireland honours last year, is preparing himself for the biggest match of his life when his team, Collingwood, takes on AFL Premiership favourites Geelong at a sold-out Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in tomorrow morning's Preliminary Final.

The Collingwood Magpies are the biggest Aussie Rules club in the world, with a massive supporter base and resources, but a Premiership has eluded them since1990.

They were back-to-back runners up against the all-conquering Brisbane Lions in 2003 and 2004 but have flattered to deceive in recent years – until now.

The Geelong Cats have endured an even longer wait for a Premiership, with their last triumph over four decades ago in 1963. This season, however, the rejuvenated Cats were runaway leaders in the home-and-away season and defeated Collingwood 80-64 in their previous meeting at the MCG last month.

The Magpies will go into the contest as underdogs, but Clarke is doing his best to stay positive and keep his feet on the ground. The prize of a Grand Final appearance on September 29 awaits, but for Clarke, beating Geelong is the first priority.

"Its just about staying relaxed this week and concentrating on playing against Geelong on Friday," Clarke said.

"I went to the Snow Patrol concert at the Rod Laver Arena (scene of the Australian Open tennis in January) because they are a Northern Ireland band that I enjoy listening to and it was good to see Derby beat Newcastle last night.

"Hopefully, Derby can win a few games and stay up this season and I'm sure that win (against Newcastle) will give them some confidence.

"I don't even want to think about the Grand Final at the moment. It's all about beating Geelong on Friday. They are a very good side, but we have played well in the finals so far to beat Sydney (Tadhg Kennelly's team) and West Coast in Perth last week so we have given ourselves a chance which is the main thing.

"It's going to be a very tough game but its 50/50 and you can't expect any more than that at this stage. It's nice when people say I have done well but I know I have got to keep my feet on the ground and keep working hard.

"I can improve a lot and as a team, we will have to be at our best to win on Friday because it's sudden death."

Clarke will at least be spared the gut-wrenching tension of a football style penalty shoot-out if the scores are level after four quarters, but extra-time is a possibility, with the winner going through as Grand Final favourites against North Melbourne or Port Adelaide next week.



magpies PLAN MORE RAIDS

Collingwood recruiting manager Derek Hine has revealed that Martin Clarke's outstanding success this year – he broke former Laois defender Colm Begley's record for the fastest Irish debut in AFL history in June – has given the club the impetus to launch future raids into GAA talent, as well as tapping into the South African market.

"We've got programmes up and going in South Africa, and obviously we've been in Northern Ireland and the Republic for three years now. Marty's the first product out of Northern Ireland, and hopefully Kevin Dyas is the second," Hine said.

"So it's just about trying to get a competitive advantage; we work in a restricted environment in terms of drafting a player.

"Here's an opportunity to be able to select a player and pre-list him for the rookie list, so that gives us a lot of encouragement."

Clarke has been on hand to offer words of advice to Dyas but is also in the dark as to how the Armagh lad sees his future.

"I am always there to support Kevin, but it's up to him to work out if Aussie Rules is for him," Clarke said.

[Tyrone Dreamer]

I see theyre targeting players in "Northern Ireland" and the "Republic of Ireland". Anyone know when the Northern Ireland final is on so that I can let the aussies no. Isnt Clark a Northern Ireland supporter?

[Our Nail Loney]

Yeah he's a Northern Ireland supporter. Derby as well or am I just making that up?

[kinghen]

big n.ireland supporter, him and his brother john used to attend matches pretty regular