Darwin Footy

[CURLY]

If anyone is interested in the chance to play in the NT league or knows someone that is let me know. Through a friendship with Raph Clark we have opened a pathway for footballers wanting to play in Vic and NT.

Its a fantastic opportunity and the football is great attacking and enjoyable..

[skeptic]

Can’t help with your enquiry but how is Raph doing. I always liked the kid. Hoped he’d play a little more like NWM than what became his style but always felt the criticism he copped was overblown

[CURLY]

Can’t help with your enquiry but how is Raph doing. I always liked the kid. Hoped he’d play a little more like NWM than what became his style but always felt the criticism he copped was overblown

Going very well living a fantastic lifestyle. Was down a fortnight ago for a party with his partner and one of his brothers. Big weekend.

[B.M]

Bit old to play in Darwin now

Raph
Good player when fit

Back injury in 06 and then soft tissue problems effected him

Very courageous and highly skilled player

Very good in 08 finals

I believe he had a good career in Darwin after AFL

[CURLY]

Bit old to play in Darwin now

Raph
Good player when fit

Back injury in 06 and then soft tissue problems effected him

Very courageous and highly skilled player

Very good in 08 finals

I believe he had a good career in Darwin after AFL

His final v the WB was huge in 09

[B.M]

Yep

I had him as next best, behind Roo

[CURLY]

Yep

I had him as next best, behind Roo

Think people forget how courageous he was overhead. A lot just jumped on the narrative that he was no good.

[B.M]

He was clearly a good player imo

Lacked awareness sometimes and played the game in slow motion a bit and was a bit lackadaisical

But skilful, and courageous

[CURLY]

He was clearly a good player imo

Lacked awareness sometimes and played the game in slow motion a bit and was a bit lackadaisical

But skilful, and courageous

One final 25 touches 13 marks another 21 and 9 marks.

[B.M]

Am I right in saying he got delisted in acrimonious circumstances?

Only cam back to StK this year for the first time?

[CURLY]

Am I right in saying he got delisted in acrimonious circumstances?

Only cam back to StK this year for the first time?

Not entirely sure I thought he either had concussion or carried a back injury.

[loris]

Am I right in saying he got delisted in acrimonious circumstances?

Only cam back to StK this year for the first time?

Not entirely sure I thought he either had concussion or carried a back injury.

If I remember correctly Raph was/is epileptic. When he had a concussion episode, I think the Saints medicos at that time were very cautious of him continuing ALF. I think he was carrying a back problem for most of his final season with Saints.
He sure was the whipping boy for many on here. Very courageous player.

[B.M]

He played 9 seasons in the NTFL after stk

He did not retire, he was delisted at 27yo

[B.M]

I knew it was something not good

It has taken Raphael Clarke a decade to fall back in love with the AFL team which came within minutes of handing the Aboriginal talent a historic premiership medal.

The St Kilda defender appeared 85 times over nine years until 2012.

Ross Lyon coached Clarke for 60 of those matches at an impressive winning rate of 66 per cent from 2007 to 2011, including the 2009 grand final loss to Geelong.

But it was Scott Waters who axed Clarke at the end of his first season in charge of the Saints before the club fired the coach the next year.

The Gambalang man revealed the reason his disdain of St Kilda stemmed from finding a text message on his phone informing the former No.8 draft pick he had been delisted.

"It took me a while to actually get back and watch it â€" I was shown the door," Clarke told SEN radio.

"If I didn't come back and play for St Mary's straight away with (his brother) Xavier, it would have taken me a long time to enjoy football again.

"A lot of people probably wouldn't believe this, but for somebody to give nine years of everything you've got, to be delisted by text message, that is probably the icing on the cake, which made me hate St Kilda for so long.

"I'm only just starting to get my passion back for St Kilda."

Typical StK
Shithouse!!!

[skeptic]

I think I remember this…

Raph’s last game with us was mid-late season against North Melbourne. I was there. He had a typical Raph game. Played at half back and had spent the day frequently leaving his man and supporting the other defenders in marking contests. Was a really selfless and I thought very underrated performance… but an errant kick early on raised the ire of the supporters as this had been an issue before.

Then mid-late 3rd or maybe early 4th, he got the ball in the middle and ran forward. It was when North had started rallying and unfortunately every single person at the ground but Raph could see the opponent chasing him hard from behind. 3 seconds later, he got run down from behind as he was prone to on occasion, North goaled from the turnover and went on to win the match, the Saints fans vocally expressed their displeasure and he was benched never to return.

It was a poor end of his career and ridiculous for him to be scapegoated like that.

[SydneySainter]

I knew it was something not good

It has taken Raphael Clarke a decade to fall back in love with the AFL team which came within minutes of handing the Aboriginal talent a historic premiership medal.

The St Kilda defender appeared 85 times over nine years until 2012.

Ross Lyon coached Clarke for 60 of those matches at an impressive winning rate of 66 per cent from 2007 to 2011, including the 2009 grand final loss to Geelong.

But it was Scott Waters who axed Clarke at the end of his first season in charge of the Saints before the club fired the coach the next year.

The Gambalang man revealed the reason his disdain of St Kilda stemmed from finding a text message on his phone informing the former No.8 draft pick he had been delisted.

"It took me a while to actually get back and watch it â€" I was shown the door," Clarke told SEN radio.

"If I didn't come back and play for St Mary's straight away with (his brother) Xavier, it would have taken me a long time to enjoy football again.

"A lot of people probably wouldn't believe this, but for somebody to give nine years of everything you've got, to be delisted by text message, that is probably the icing on the cake, which made me hate St Kilda for so long.

"I'm only just starting to get my passion back for St Kilda."

Typical StK
Shithouse!!!

Had the talent to be an A-grader in the AFL, but his lack of awareness when carrying the ball was an ongoing problem.

Ross certainly had a lot of faith in him, as did GT from memory.

Poor form as to how he was delisted. Deserved a lot better.

[CURLY]

I always felt his lack of awareness came from his style being to receive and take off.
Lyons game plan often doesn’t give you anything to kick too which left him indecisive

[B.M]

The amount of damage Watters, Pelchen and Elshaug did was staggering

[loris]

I can recall the article I read in The Age (I think) many years ago that mentioned he had epilepsy, ended up at Epworth Hospital the day after a match where it was diagnosed as an epileptic fit.

Raph sang the praises of praises of Ross Lyon. Lyon gave him confidence, giving him examples of top level sports people who played sport with elipepsy, Wally (?) a top Rugby League player, Tony Greig England cricket captain.

It was kept in-house at St Kilda, players were told not to let him go swimming at recovery sessions on his own. Doctors said the fit seemed to come on when he got tired, or had lack of sleep. In hindsight he thought he had a fit once as a young child, as he could remember waking up, feeling very disoriented and he had bitten through his tongue. So the doctors at Epworth thought that was a fit he’d had as child that wasn’t diagnosed .


I member reading that article, I hoped some of the keyboard warriors on this site, felt a little bit ridiculous on all the crap they had put on Raphael over the years.

That’s why incessantly bagging players who are trying to make it in the AFL is really bad form. There is often a lot going on in their lives ( that may be challenging) they don’t know about.

Also I think the article said at the time of being diagnosed, he was also going through dealing with his father’s terminal cancer diagnosis.

So keyboard warriors think first before you rip into players

[SydneySainter]

The amount of damage Watters, Pelchen and Elshaug did was staggering

Yep. Add Finnis & Summers to that also, for lacking the conviction to make the tough calls when they were needed.

This is damage that we’re still trying to repair.

[SteeleSaints]

What a digraceful way to treat a player of 9 years, it just highlights how badly run the club was run at the time.

If you ever read this Raph we appreciate your efforts and we apologise on behalf of the club for how poorly they treated you.

Take care...

[The G Train Legacy]

I knew it was something not good

It has taken Raphael Clarke a decade to fall back in love with the AFL team which came within minutes of handing the Aboriginal talent a historic premiership medal.

The St Kilda defender appeared 85 times over nine years until 2012.

Ross Lyon coached Clarke for 60 of those matches at an impressive winning rate of 66 per cent from 2007 to 2011, including the 2009 grand final loss to Geelong.

But it was Scott Waters who axed Clarke at the end of his first season in charge of the Saints before the club fired the coach the next year.

The Gambalang man revealed the reason his disdain of St Kilda stemmed from finding a text message on his phone informing the former No.8 draft pick he had been delisted.

"It took me a while to actually get back and watch it â€" I was shown the door," Clarke told SEN radio.

"If I didn't come back and play for St Mary's straight away with (his brother) Xavier, it would have taken me a long time to enjoy football again.

"A lot of people probably wouldn't believe this, but for somebody to give nine years of everything you've got, to be delisted by text message, that is probably the icing on the cake, which made me hate St Kilda for so long.

"I'm only just starting to get my passion back for St Kilda."

Typical StK
Shithouse!!!

The hiring of Scott Watters, over Hinkley and Richo, was ridiculous. He was an utter disaster.

[skeptic]

I knew it was something not good

It has taken Raphael Clarke a decade to fall back in love with the AFL team which came within minutes of handing the Aboriginal talent a historic premiership medal.

The St Kilda defender appeared 85 times over nine years until 2012.

Ross Lyon coached Clarke for 60 of those matches at an impressive winning rate of 66 per cent from 2007 to 2011, including the 2009 grand final loss to Geelong.

But it was Scott Waters who axed Clarke at the end of his first season in charge of the Saints before the club fired the coach the next year.

The Gambalang man revealed the reason his disdain of St Kilda stemmed from finding a text message on his phone informing the former No.8 draft pick he had been delisted.

"It took me a while to actually get back and watch it â€" I was shown the door," Clarke told SEN radio.

"If I didn't come back and play for St Mary's straight away with (his brother) Xavier, it would have taken me a long time to enjoy football again.

"A lot of people probably wouldn't believe this, but for somebody to give nine years of everything you've got, to be delisted by text message, that is probably the icing on the cake, which made me hate St Kilda for so long.

"I'm only just starting to get my passion back for St Kilda."

Typical StK
Shithouse!!!

The hiring of Scott Watters, over Hinkley and Richo, was ridiculous. He was an utter disaster.

Don’t forget former premiership coach Mark Williams was the odds on candidate

[The G Train Legacy]

I knew it was something not good

It has taken Raphael Clarke a decade to fall back in love with the AFL team which came within minutes of handing the Aboriginal talent a historic premiership medal.

The St Kilda defender appeared 85 times over nine years until 2012.

Ross Lyon coached Clarke for 60 of those matches at an impressive winning rate of 66 per cent from 2007 to 2011, including the 2009 grand final loss to Geelong.

But it was Scott Waters who axed Clarke at the end of his first season in charge of the Saints before the club fired the coach the next year.

The Gambalang man revealed the reason his disdain of St Kilda stemmed from finding a text message on his phone informing the former No.8 draft pick he had been delisted.

"It took me a while to actually get back and watch it â€" I was shown the door," Clarke told SEN radio.

"If I didn't come back and play for St Mary's straight away with (his brother) Xavier, it would have taken me a long time to enjoy football again.

"A lot of people probably wouldn't believe this, but for somebody to give nine years of everything you've got, to be delisted by text message, that is probably the icing on the cake, which made me hate St Kilda for so long.

"I'm only just starting to get my passion back for St Kilda."

Typical StK
Shithouse!!!

The hiring of Scott Watters, over Hinkley and Richo, was ridiculous. He was an utter disaster.

Don’t forget former premiership coach Mark Williams was the odds on candidate

Choco was a candidate when we sacked Watters. Another stunning decision! We hired Richo based on his interview 2 years earlier.

[skeptic]

Aaah yes, you are correct.