I think he is probably more a mobile ruckman and like Kreuzer at Carlton plays his best football on ball. Whether he can fill the role we need only time will tell.

Article in Mondays herald sun says Mathews does not rate Mitch Clarke as a power forward and that we are paying him way too much as a key forward that is not a proven performer in this position .

Leigh Mathews , Mick Malthouse and a few others like to kick us around when it comes to the big recruits for Melbourne more so than any other club gee we are a soft target .

Maybe we deserve it ?

He might be right.

As a Full time Key Forward I'm yet to see Clarke do anything that dominates a defender, But he's tall & has attitude.

This in itself is a Plus, and can give us the steering to straighten out attack towards the forward zone.

To Me Both Clarke & Martin are interchangeable, Or will be, but both will learn to play the Key Tall forward roles together. Martin is slowly showing a few little tricks but still quite awkwardly, as he's still nervous about his abilities.

I see, looking forward,,, That one day we can use Either of Martin or Clarke or Both, in the Ruck, when Our Tall forwards in TMac, Watts, Cook, or one of the Martin/Clarke partnership are going well up forward & when the Russian is all done.

To me having these boys is a Bonus, & right Now Clarkes attitude/aggression is Much needed in our forwardline.

When he played for brisbane i wasnt worried about the impact he was going to have against us.....

Not sure why so many people are crying foul over these comments by Matthews. Mitch Clark has not yet proven over an entire season that he is a great key forward. His best year was 2009 as a ruckman and I still believe this is definately his best position. Not unhappy that we got him to the club but at the same time I really don't see him developing into an A grade key forward. Once Jamar retires, Clark will most likely take over Ruck duties.

Not sure why so many people are crying foul over these comments by Matthews. Mitch Clark has not yet proven over an entire season that he is a great key forward. His best year was 2009 as a ruckman and I still believe this is definately his best position. Not unhappy that we got him to the club but at the same time I really don't see him developing into an A grade key forward. Once Jamar retires, Clark will most likely take over Ruck duties.

I like to think he will be good value. 2 goals in that farcical effort last weekend was a good return considering how little he had of the ball, and with better delivery and more input from him, we could see Clark easily returning in excess of 50 goals this season. I would prefer to see them persevering with the Spencil (who is due back on track very soon) in the ruck, as like Jamar, he could be a late starter (I seem to recall he was starting to look a lot better just prior to his injury).

When he played for brisbane i wasnt worried about the impact he was going to have against us.....

He got BOG against us last year.

I like to think he will be good value. 2 goals in that farcical effort last weekend was a good return considering how little he had of the ball, and with better delivery and more input from him, we could see Clark easily returning in excess of 50 goals this season. I would prefer to see them persevering with the Spencil (who is due back on track very soon) in the ruck, as like Jamar, he could be a late starter (I seem to recall he was starting to look a lot better just prior to his injury).

Sorry but Spencer is an absolute spud - I know big guys take longer to develop but seriously he has very, very limited ability and no skill whatsover!!!You could make a cup of tea in the time it takes him to drop the ball onto his foot!!! No way on earth we will win a flag with Spencer on our list. Ruckman like Spencer became extinct years ago.

Sorry but Spencer is an absolute spud - I know big guys take longer to develop but seriously he has very, very limited ability and no skill whatsover!!!You could make a cup of tea in the time it takes him to drop the ball onto his foot!!! No way on earth we will win a flag with Spencer on our list. Ruckman like Spencer became extinct years ago.

You have a very short memory. Dean Cox was on WC's rookie list for two years and took a couple of years to get a game. Sandilands was on Freo's rookie list for two years and was a "spud" for more than two years. Both now at a mature age and are the two best ruckmen the the game. Sandilands could not mark a ball if his life depended on it for the first 3 years.

Edited April 3, 201213 yr by Bossdog

I bet he didn't rate Steve Smith before he gutlessly took him out from behind at Princes Park.

He could play a bit but his many acts of cowardice on the football field should never be forgotten. He should be constantly reminded of these acts of thuggery.

Sorry but Spencer is an absolute spud - I know big guys take longer to develop but seriously he has very, very limited ability and no skill whatsover!!!You could make a cup of tea in the time it takes him to drop the ball onto his foot!!! No way on earth we will win a flag with Spencer on our list. Ruckman like Spencer became extinct years ago.

Please remind me, how was Jamar rated until his breakout season a couple of years back?

Please remind me, how was Jamar rated until his breakout season a couple of years back?

I confess that I recently personally apologised to Mark Jamar at a function for calling him an "oxygen thief" for years.

I bet he didn't rate Steve Smith before he gutlessly took him out from behind at Princes Park.

He could play a bit but his many acts of cowardice on the football field should never be forgotten. He should be constantly reminded of these acts of thuggery.

Well said. I have no respect for him.

I remember in the aftermath of Barry Hall punching Staker, Mathews was saying how Hall will live with the guilt for ever, as he does over the assault on Bruns. He said as soon as he did it he felt guilt and has struggled with it. Great story Leigh, but how did you feel the other dozen times when you did the same thing. One of the shittest blokes ever to walk the earth.

But I have no idea if Clarke can be a gun forward, hopefully.

Well said. I have no respect for him.

Is he the only player to have been deregistered by the VFL/AFL for an act of cowardice?

You have a very short memory. Dean Cox was on WC's rookie list for two years and took a couple of years to get a game. Sandilands was on Freo's rookie list for two years and was a "spud" for more than two years. Both now at a mature age and are the two best ruckmen the the game. Sandilands could not mark a ball if his life depended on it for the first 3 years.

And so were all of Norths rucks that I can remember. Giraffes I thought, gangly & uncoordinated hacks I thought, but they grew over a couple more years to surprise me & I had to go back & reappraise how I viewed the tall rucks, from a reasonably early period in their development.

I've learnt to look again, with the tall & lean ones, to see further into their skills & potential.

Too soon with Spence to say... He's only 22.5 years of age atmo, so we should be able to tell in the next 18 months.

He needs to show us a bit this year, to get another contract, 1 or 2 Years.

I bet he didn't rate Steve Smith before he gutlessly took him out from behind at Princes Park.

He could play a bit but his many acts of cowardice on the football field should never be forgotten. He should be constantly reminded of these acts of thuggery.

They weren't acts of cowardice, but they were thuggery.

They weren't acts of cowardice, but they were thuggery.

Two sides of the same coin.

I confess that I recently personally apologised to Mark Jamar at a function for calling him an "oxygen thief" for years.

Thats nice, I was on his bandwagon throughout & I was one who tried to give him Oxygen when he played at the VFL level, doing all I could, to help him believe.

Then one day @ Port Melbourne, it all started to click, I believe... and from there he grew.

Two sides of the same coin.

No not really.

Thuggery isn't cowardice, but it is violence, deplorable, Bullying, & just plain stupidity, lacking in humanity.

Is he the only player to have been deregistered by the VFL/AFL for an act of cowardice?

Leigh Matthews still feels guilt over Neville Bruns hit

April 17th, 2008

Geelong trainers help Neville Bruns from the field after he was hit by Hawthorn champion Leigh Matthews in 1985.

LEIGH Matthews yesterday drew on his own darkest day to say Barry Hall's AFL king-hit on Brent Staker will weigh down the Swans enforcer for the rest of his life.

Matthews intimated that Hall's brain explosion was Australian football's worst act of ill-discipline since he broke the jaw of Geelong rover Neville Bruns in 1985.

"I tell you what, Brent Staker's jaw will feel better in a week, Barry Hall's heart will be heavy for the rest of his life," said the four-time AFL premiership coach and player of the 20th century.

"I still live with the guilt."

With talk of red cards being introduced into the AFL for such acts of thuggery, Matthews said Hall's punch on West Coast defender Staker deserved a send-off.

"Saturday was probably logical, an opposition player was put out of the game so it was logical to say the person who did that should be put out of the game as well," he told Brisbane's annual Three Codes football function in Brisbane.

"In the last 20 years of football that's the only other incident since mine probably in 1985 where you could have argued that was necessary."

Although Hall has gained no sympathy for his seven-week suspension, Matthews empathised with the power forward.

"I was involved with that kind of thing and all of a sudden you do something and you think 'oh s----,"' he said.

"It was 23 years ago but I can visualise the five seconds,,, because this particular opponent had been sniping a few of our blokes early in the game....

"It was an ugly game and when the game turned ugly, I turned the ugliest.

"He kind of walked past and I walked up belted him one and I thought 'Oh s---, what did I do that for?'. And then I thought 'they'll be coming' and they were coming.

"Because then I lost consciousness because my nose got smashed across my face and so then I was out of the game, too.

"It all happened in the spur of the moment but it doesn't go away."

Matthews was not reported at the time of the Bruns incident because there were no video review facilities.

But he was later deregistered as a player for four weeks following a league investigation.

Matthews also pleaded guilty to an assault charge and was fined $1000, although that was later downgraded to a 12-month good behaviour bond.

http://www.geelongad...ong_sports.html

Well said. I have no respect for him.

I remember in the aftermath of Barry Hall punching Staker, Mathews was saying how Hall will live with the guilt for ever, as he does over the assault on Bruns. He said as soon as he did it he felt guilt and has struggled with it. Great story Leigh, but how did you feel the other dozen times when you did the same thing. And he slept with a players wife while he was at Collingwood. One of the shittest blokes ever to walk the earth.

But I have no idea if Clarke can be a gun forward, hopefully.

Michael Christian should have smashed him before he ran off to Brissy .

If my memory serves me correctly when Barry HALL made the big move to Sydney he was a lot of potential and the same drums were beating about him being overpaid, but it made him, hopefully we can prove to have the same outcome

They weren't acts of cowardice, but they were thuggery.

I consider hitting someone from behind, when they have no idea it's about to happen, an act of cowardice. He would not have dared to do it had Smith been facing him - he might have got hit back!

I saw his hit on Smith from about 60m away - that was not an act of thuggery but cowardice.

I consider hitting someone from behind, when they have no idea it's about to happen, an act of cowardice. He would not have dared to do it had Smith been facing him - he might have got hit back!

I saw his hit on Smith from about 60m away - that was not an act of thuggery but cowardice.

I have to agree that hitting someone from behind is cowardly, and [censored] weak... I can't disagree with that.

But eventually we all have to leave what happened onfield behind, and let it lye down. Just as my digger dad did after coming home injured from artillery shrapnel from the jungles of New Guinea.

Mitch Clark kicked 5 goals last week. Ben Hudson is dropped this week. Do people still regard Matthew's opinion too highly?

Good call DemonDave.

Shame the media don't pick up on it and stop paying his comments so much heed.