The highlight of Tom Clurey's 2019 probably came when he held Tom Hawkins markless in a big win over Geelong in round 14. The lowlight was undoubtedly standing Ben Brown when he booted ten in round 22 to knock Port out of finals. Clurey's role is purely and simply as a stopper, as he rarely gets enough marks on the rebound to hit the back baseline. The quicker the team gets the ball away from him, the better. This is not a recipe for fantasy value.
Clearly, Clurey is a clubman
The highlight of Tom Clurey's 2019 probably came when he held Tom Hawkins markless in a big win over Geelong in round 14. The lowlight was undoubtedly standing Ben Brown when he booted ten in round 22 to knock Port out of finals. Clurey's role is purely and simply as a stopper, as he rarely gets enough marks on the rebound to hit the back baseline. The quicker the team gets the ball away from him, the better. This is not a recipe for fantasy value.
Tom Clurey has had a very poor year for his fantasy owners, following an Indian summer last winter where his role moved up the ground with a bit of ruck and midfield and reverting this year to a more traditional key forward post. For the last few games, however, he has been installed at full back. His statistical production there has not been much to write home about, as Port these days tend not to stuff around with the ball much on the rebound so he doesn't get a lot of work passing around the key. His fantasy worth is replacement-level at this late point.
Clurey catches big fish
As a close-checking key back your major stat is one-percenters, and Tom Clurey almost matched his 2017 totals last year despite playing four less games. His stat sheet was otherwise barren, as befits his role which drifted from CHB to full back as the year wore on. The Port backline will feature plenty of changes in personnel in 2019 with stars returning and arriving but, with the departure of Jack Hombsch, Clurey is secure as one of the bookends.
Clurey takes curly ones
Holding down 22 games at CHB for Port didn't look likely for Tom Clurey at the start of his fifth season, coming into it with 18 senior games to his name. He got towelled up early by Lance Franklin and Jonathon Patton, then got better as the year progressed culminating in a creditable job on Josh J. Kennedy in the final... until JJK exploded in extra time. Much of the media hype on the new-look Power backline - although this is Port we're talking about, so it wasn't particularly noisome - focused on how good Tom Jonas was, but Clurey can lay claim to some significant scalps in the second half of 2017. He would need to add a lot more rebound to his game to be spoken of in the same breath as Michael Hurley or Alex Rance, though.
