Hunter Clark is one of the great unknowns at St Kilda, a club which has so much talent but whose development program seems to have lagged behind the league average for so long. Clark's skill sets include both half back and midfield, a mix which can tend to make him a spare parts player without a defined role, unlike teammate Jack Sinclair who has settled behind the ball to become a premium scorer. Ross Lyon has plenty to work with here, and the preseason is a chance to see what Ross the Boss will make of his new toy. Can he produce something relevant to fantasy?
Hunter Clark is one of the great unknowns at St Kilda, a club which has so much talent but whose development program seems to have lagged behind the league average for so long. Clark's skill sets include both half back and midfield, a mix which can tend to make him a spare parts player without a defined role, unlike teammate Jack Sinclair who has settled behind the ball to become a premium scorer. Ross Lyon has plenty to work with here, and the preseason is a chance to see what Ross the Boss will make of his new toy. Can he produce something relevant to fantasy?
Hunter Clark has started all but a handful of his senior games for St Kilda at half back and mostly stayed there, with occasional rotations to the middle to help out at the coalface. At this still early stage of his career he has developed into a Callum Mills type, who was also hyped in the media for years for an allegedly inevitable permanent inside mid move. That finally happened for Mills this year, but perhaps it's too early to be seriously talking about Clark in the guts. The Saints could certainly use some depth on-ball, but that's what Brad Crouch is for.
Hunter Clark has had an underrated buildup to earning his place in the St Kilda best 22, in a team where the bar has been set faiirly low in recent years. This year things seem to have clicked, and his partnership with Ben Long on either half back flank will hopefully go on for another 200 games. Clark's ceiling for fantasy purposes could be nearly anything, as he has shown great appetite for the ball on rebounds and there's usually a lot of ball pinging into the backline at the Saints for him to distribute. One to watch for the present and future.
Hunter catches prey
A dominant ball-winning midfielder throughout his junior career, Hunter Clark translated that form into the AFL side in year two. Following struggles with form which resulted in a mere three matches pre-bye, he played every match thereafter including an average of 22 touches from round 13 onwards. Clark became essential to the structure of St Kilda throughout the latter half of the year and will be heavily relied upon in his third season. Taken with the seventh selection in the 2017 national draft, Clark appears capable to lift his ratings again. A middle round reach for upside appears warranted.
Hunter Clark has always had the potential to move from his previous half back and tagger roles to a more creative position in midfield, and over the last month he has started to deliver on that promise. Coming into this game off the first two fantasy tons of his young career, there is a spot in the Saints engine room left by the absence of Jack Steven, which might be permanent if trade rumours are to be believed. His scoring is based on spread for uncontested marks, especially in dry conditions under the dome at Docklands, with not many contested possessions.
Rubber hits road for Clark
Thrown around in multiple roles in his first season of AFL, Hunter Clark is a chance to establish himself as a midfielder in 2019. With another pre-season under his belt, Clark might be ready to play midfield and, if this is the case, he could experience a major bump in scoring. He has been used as a tagger at times, which can be good and bad news on a fantasy front on a given day depending on the opponent. Given his potential and possible role change, Clark is worth a good look in the middle-to-late rounds of drafts.
Clark will be super
Moving from a HBF to midfield in his last junior year, Hunter Clark went at rates of 27 disposals in the TAC Cup and 15 at the Championships, nearly half contested. If we take Clark's new teammate Jack Steven as a template, Clark is going to start too slowly to be draftable. One to watch for future years, not for 2018.
