Westies departure:
AFL SHOCK FOR LEN
First published by:
Wimmera Mail-Times
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
By Megan Hustwaite
The meteoric rise of former Murtoa footballer Lenny Clark, 22, has continued with the ruckman winning selection on an AFL club rookie list.
Clark, who appeared in state league football in Adelaide almost by mistake, will join the Brisbane Lions after the club selected him with pick 22 in yesterday’s rookie draft.
Clark has played for West Adelaide in the SANFL for the past 18 months and told the Mail-Times his drafting came as a surprise.
“I’m absolutely over the moon. I’m very shocked, I didn’t expect this at all,†he said. “I was at work and Brisbane called in the morning to say they’d taken me with their last pick and that they’d get in touch with me later on to give me more details. It’s all happened so quick, it’s very hard to believe.â€
Clark, who works for an accounting firm in Adelaide, moved to S.A. four years ago to study a bachelor of commerce degree.
He joined West Adelaide on invitation from coach and former Adelaide premiership player Shaun Rehn who watched him play amateur football with Edwardstown early last year.
“I came over to Adelaide and didn’t play footy for the first year and during that time I came back and played a few games for the Burras in the Wimmera League,†he said. “The following year I played amateurs and then Shaun Rehn approached me to see if I wanted to have a go in the SANFL.â€
Clark said he played a consistent year in 2004 but injuries interrupted his season this year.
“I had a niggling problem with my knee this year and missed a lot of games,†he said. “I had the knee cleaned up at the end of the season and I’m about to start running, but because of the injury I wrote myself off. I had a few phone calls from a couple of clubs, but no real indication, so I didn’t expect anything.â€
He said he was looking forward to moving to Brisbane to try to make his mark at AFL level.
“Now I’ve just got to train hard once I get up there and take advantage of the opportunity,†he said. “It’s important I work hard because you don’t get many chances at the big time and I want to play senior footy. There’ll be a fair few blokes in line to get a game at Brisbane before me. They have some of the best ruckmen going around in Clark Keating and Jamie Charman and I’m sure they’ll be awesome to learn from.â€
Former Burras coach David Delahunty, who coached Clark in under-17’s, said he was delighted to hear of the news.
“I’m absolutely rapt, it’s just fantastic,†he said. “It doesn’t really come as a surprise to me because he’s a kid who is six feet seven inches, he can kick with both feet, he can jump and he’s very athletic. What does surprise me is how he slipped through the Wimmera ranks and never made the Rebels under-18 team and the likes.â€
Rookies cannot play AFL senior games unless clubs have vacancies caused by long-term injury or retirement.
Also posted at
http://araratfc.vcfl.com.au
Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 7:03 pm
