FORMER Brisbane Lions and St Kilda player Xavier Clarke has undertaken a week-long placement with Port Adelaide's coaching panel as part of the AFL Indigenous Coaching Academy.
The program aims to introduce more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander coaches to the national game, with Clarke about to start his second season as head coach of the Northern Territory Thunder.
Clarke played 106 AFL games after being drafted to the Saints from St Marys at Pick No. 5 in the 2001 NAB AFL Draft.
As the senior coach of the sole Northern Territory side in the North-Eastern AFL competition, Clarke is responsible for the development of many young Territorians hopeful of making it to the AFL.
As part of the placement, Clarke worked with the Power's playing group throughout the club's first week back from the New Year break.
Clarke sat down with Port Adelaide's Aboriginal programs manager Paul Vandenbergh to talk about his week at Alberton.
Paul Vandenbergh: How you going brother, can you tell us what you have been up to at Port Adelaide?
Xavier Clarke: I’m good brother. I began my first session with the club on the first day back for the players from their Christmas break. I met Kenny Hinkley and the other coaches, who then introduced me to the players as they prepared for their three-kilometre time trial. I felt very welcome and immediately I was put to work with some drills. I certainly wasn’t expecting that, but really appreciated getting into it straight away. As part of my coaching development I wanted to spend some time with an AFL club and with the direction the Port Adelaide Football Club is heading and their commitment and focus on indigenous programs, it seemed to be the perfect fit for me.
PV: What did you take out of the week at the club?
XC: I gained so much knowledge and was able to float between the coaches and spend time picking their brains, particularly Kenny. The information I picked up and learnt is now something I’ll try to implement with the NT Thunder program. Being here and listening to the coaches and the language they use reinforces the path I want my players and importantly my club to head in. I was really keen on speaking with Kenny about his experience when he was coaching country footy, as I believe it relates better to the situation I’m in at the NT Thunder. Seeing how he and the coaches plan each session and how they reinforce their expectations and standards, and that will to win, has been fantastic to see and be a part of. You can see how it then reflects back into the players' training and games.
PV: Can you tell us some of the things that you'll take back to the NT Thunder?
XC: Hopefully I can bring some new ideas into this season and try and implement a few new drills that I believe can really help in our player development. It’s really important that I’m able to keep bringing new and fresh ideas to the program as it critical that we continue to grow and improve each session, each game, each season. Hopefully I’ve developed and become a better coach in my second year as head coach. This past week with Port Adelaide helps me bring a new level of enthusiasm and excitement to the NT Thunder players and organisation.
The one thing Kenny said to me that really stuck this week, is that on talent alone we can compete with any team in the competition, but the way we train has to be harder, better and we have to be fitter and hopefully that is what will win you games. That is something we need to look at with the NT Thunder program and try and do for this season. We are not full-time professional athletes, but when we train there is no reason why we can’t train at the elite standards and ensure that every session counts and we’re giving maximum effort.
PV: What are you goals in the coaching field, do you aspire for involvement at higher levels of the game?
XC: For sure, this is what I love doing and I love coaching. I’m really keen on furthering my coaching and to one day coach at the AFL level. The opportunity to return home to Darwin and coach the NT Thunder is fantastic and I’m relishing my time there. I’m certainly not in a big rush to jump into the AFL, as I very committed at the NT Thunder, but hopefully the next step for me would be WAFL, SANFL or state league level somewhere and to keep building my coaching resume.
PV: Tell us how you're going at the NT Thunder and about indigenous playing talent in the Territory.
XC: The NTFL competition is running at the moment, with about six weeks left of the season and things are looking really good and exciting. There’s a lot of talent throughout all the teams and plenty of untapped talent in rural and remote NT, which we need to assist and support. About 60-65% of the NT Thunder list was indigenoous this year, which is quite large and we’re very proud of that. We have a great remote communities program and have five players contracted with us who live in remote communities, like Liam Patrick= who was at the Gold Coast Suns but now lives back in his home community of Lajamanu and drives nine hours to get to a game. We deal with a range of circumstances, but certainly there's a lot of talent coming through. We also have the Michael Long Leadership Centre, which will open on the weekend of the NTFL grand final, so that’s a facility that will promote more opportunities and have a real focus on education and personal development. It will also allow us to bring our players through the centre and further develop them on and off the field. We’re very excited to operate out of there.
PV: Having seen the coaching structure at Port Adelaide and the resources, do you wish you had that at NT Thunder?
XC: I’d love to have that support, particularly how Kenny has set it up and able to oversee and observe training and allow the line and development coaches to take training and step in when needed. Last year there was just myself and another assistant and we were running the training session, sometimes ensuring the water bottles were filled up, the footies were pumped up, but I think that’s the beauty of coaching at this level, as it made me appreciate all the roles and tasks needed to make a football club work. I hope one day we can have the NT Thunder at a level similar to AFL as I know that will bring more opportunities for players and coaches.
PV: Which coaches and players impressed you the most at the club this past week?
XC: From the coaches I’d say Matty Nicks has been really impressive and stood out for me. Knowing him as a player but not really as a coach, I’ve just seen how well he’s transitioned as a coach and why he’s considered so highly. Buddha Hocking was fantastic as well and I got along really well with him. I love how he’s able to have a laugh with the players and coaches, but he knows when to be serious, which is a fine line. Obviously my time at Brisbane Lions under Vossy was a great privilege and I have a huge amount of respect for him. You can see already the impact he’s having at Port Adelaide and he will be a massive asset to the club.
As for the players, Boaky really stood out for me and surprised me by his training intensity and how he’s able to maintain that training intensity every time, every session and still encourage and support the rest of the team. Really impressive! I think that really typifies what you want in a captain and you would expect to see your leader lead by example.
PV: And how are the brothers Wingard, Ah Chee, Neade, Impey, Amon, Ryder and Krakouer going?
XC: Yeah they’re going really well. We had a 'brothers dinner' the other night, something the boys do regularly and we also had a special appearance from past player David Rodan who brought along his Dancing with the Stars trophy. It was a good laugh and great time out for dinner and you can see how close the boys are with each other.
I think Paddy Ryder is going to be really good for the club and working in tandem with Lobbes is going to something I’ll enjoy watching and I think will be really successful. Chaddy has a fair bit of voice around training; I thought he might be quiet, so that surprised me with his voice and how he goes about his business. It’s also really good to see Kraks (Nathan Krakouer) getting an opportunity, he was working really hard and I was told he has gained a lot of improvement in his fitness and if he’s gets AFL fit, he’ll be a huge asset for the club both forward and back.
