Zachary Clarke (born 28 March 1990) is a former professional

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. He previously played for the

Fremantle Football Club The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers or colloquially Freo, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represen ...

and

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers or colloquially the Dons, is a professional Australian rules football club that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCrac ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL).

Early life

Clarke was born in Australia to an Australian mother and African-American father. He grew up in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in Victoria playing basketball, a fan of

Kevin Garnett Kevin Maurice Garnett ( ; born May 19, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player who played 21 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Big Ticket," Garnett is considered one of the greatest power f ...

and dreamt of playing in the NBA. He represented Victoria in the youth state championships and was organising trails with US clubs before moving to

Perth, Western Australia Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

at age 18 when he gave up basketball and transitioned Australian rules.

AFL career

Clarke was drafted with the 37th selection in the 2008 AFL Draft after playing his first season of competitive football with the

Oakleigh Chargers The Oakleigh Chargers is an Australian rules football club playing in the Talent League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. They are based at Warrawee Park in Oakleigh, Victoria, representing the ...

in the

TAC Cup The Talent League (also known as the Coates Talent League under naming rights and previously as the NAB League and TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition based in Melbourne and run by the Australian Foot ...

in 2008. He represented Victoria Metro at the 2008 AFL Under 18 Championships. At 203 cm, he had previously played basketball for the Nunawading Spectres and had hoped to play at a US College. An athletic player with good endurance, he lived with Fremantle's first choice ruckman, 211 cm Aaron Sandilands when he first moved to Western Australia. He attended Koonung Secondary College. For the 2009 season, Clarke was allocated to play for

East Perth Football Club The East Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Royals, is an Australian rules football club based in Leederville, Western Australia, current playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). Formed in 1902 as the Unio ...

in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

and after two impressive games was named in Fremantle's senior squad for their Round 3 match 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 ...

. He eventually made his debut in the round 13 clash against

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. ...

after averaging an impressive 16 hit outs in the WAFL. In round 20, 2011, following a strong performance against St Kilda, Clarke was nominated for the 2011 AFL Rising Star. Clarke was delisted by Fremantle at the conclusion of the 2017 season, having missed much of the past two seasons through injury. In November 2018, Clarke returned to AFL, joining Essendon via the newly implemented pre-season supplemental selection period. In October 2019, Clarke was delisted by after 9 games in the 2019 season.

Statistics

: ''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2016 season'' , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, , 30 , , 5 , , 0 , , 0 , , 9 , , 36 , , 45 , , 8 , , 10 , , 35 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.8 , , 7.2 , , 9.0 , , 1.6 , , 2.0 , , 7.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, , 30 , , 3 , , 0 , , 1 , , 3 , , 17 , , 20 , , 3 , , 12 , , 25 , , 0.0 , , 0.3 , , 1.0 , , 5.7 , , 6.7 , , 1.0 , , 4.0 , , 8.3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, , 30 , , 13 , , 6 , , 6 , , 62 , , 115 , , 177 , , 42 , , 68 , , 172 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 4.8 , , 8.8 , , 13.6 , , 3.2 , , 5.2 , , 13.2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, , 30 , , 15 , , 13 , , 13 , , 105 , , 67 , , 172 , , 67 , , 48 , , 121 , , 0.9 , , 0.9 , , 7.0 , , 4.5 , , 11.5 , , 4.5 , , 3.2 , , 8.1 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, , 30 , , 17 , , 8 , , 3 , , 84 , , 142 , , 226 , , 68 , , 57 , , 355 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 4.9 , , 8.4 , , 13.3 , , 4.0 , , 3.4 , , 20.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, , 30 , , 21 , , 12 , , 10 , , 132 , , 126 , , 258 , , 92 , , 57 , , 252 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 6.3 , , 6.0 , , 12.3 , , 4.4 , , 2.7 , , 12.0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, , 30 , , 14 , , 7 , , 2 , , 73 , , 75 , , 148 , , 57 , , 28 , , 162 , , 0.5 , , 0.1 , , 5.2 , , 5.4 , , 10.6 , , 4.1 , , 2.0 , , 11.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, , 30 , , 13 , , 0 , , 3 , , 37 , , 89 , , 126 , , 37 , , 35 , , 249 , , 0.0 , , 0.2 , , 2.8 , , 6.8 , , 9.7 , , 2.8 , , 2.7 , , 19.2 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 101 ! 46 ! 38 ! 505 ! 667 ! 1172 ! 374 ! 315 ! 1371 ! 0.5 ! 0.4 ! 5.0 ! 6.6 ! 11.6 ! 3.7 ! 3.1 ! 13.6

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Zac Living people East Perth Football Club players Australian people of African-American descent Fremantle Football Club players Essendon Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne 1990 births Oakleigh Chargers players Peel Thunder Football Club players Subiaco Football Club players 21st-century Australian sportsmen