Arianna Clarke (born 6 April 1999) is a retired

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played for the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

in the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football competition for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the l ...

Early life

Clarke was born in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. At the age of 13, she moved to the Gold Coast where she attended

Robina State High School Robina State High School is a Mixed-sex education, coeducational independent State school, public secondary school based in Robina, Queensland, Robina, on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. The school has a total en ...

and played football for the Broadbeach Cats. She later switched to play for Coolangatta Tweed Heads in the AFL Queensland Women's League and was drafted by the

with pick 15 in the

2017 AFL Women's draft The 2017 AFL Women's draft consisted of the various periods when the eight clubs in the AFL Women's competition could recruit players prior to the competition's 2018 AFL Women's season, 2018 season. As the previous season's player contracts wer ...

AFLW career

Clarke was recruited by

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

with the number 15 pick in the

. She made her debut in the Lions' round 1 game against

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

at Norwood Oval on 3 February 2018. In August 2020, Clarke announced her retirement after Brisbane released her from the second year of her contract. Arianna Clarke has relocated to Melbourne to pursue her football dreams again and is currently playing with the Sandringham Zebras . She has also started a career in renewable energy with a company called Djookian that is helping organisations transition to net zero while creating opportunities for women and aboriginal people (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/djookian_introducing-arianna-clarke-djookians-renewables-activity-7331171782944546817-AFfh/)

References

External links

* * 1999 births Living people Australian rules footballers from the Gold Coast, Queensland Sportswomen from Queensland Brisbane Lions (AFLW) players Australian rules footballers from Kalgoorlie {{AFL-bio-1990s-stub