Raphael Clarke is an Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

er for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 (AFL). He is the brother of Brisbane

Brisbane Lions

The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...

 utility Xavier Clarke

Xavier Clarke

Xavier Clarke is an Indigenous Australian rules football player in the Australian Football League . Formerly playing for St Kilda, at the send of the 2009 season he was traded to the Brisbane Lions.-Early life:...

, who was also a St Kilda player from 2002 until 2009.

AFL career

Clarke was recruited from St Marys

St Marys Football Club

The St Marys Football Club, nicknamed, Saints, formed in 1952 is a member club of the Northern Territory Football League. It is famous for its record of success, with 28 NTFL premierships and 55 out of 57 possible final appearances....

 with pick number 8 in the 2003 AFL Draft

2003 AFL Draft

The 2003 AFL Draft was the 2003 instance of the AFL Draft, the annual draft of talented players by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League...

. He made his debut in Round 17, 2004 against Essendon

Essendon Football Club

The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...

. In 2005 he was an AFL Rising Star nominee.

2008 season

Clarke had a strong start to the year in his fifth season at the club, playing in St Kilda’s 2008 NAB Cup

2008 NAB Cup

The 2008 NAB Cup was the Australian Football League pre-season competition played in its entirety before the Australian Football League's 2008 Premiership season began...

 winning side.
After playing just five of the first 20 rounds in 2008 because of health and personal issues, Clarke finished the year in outstanding fashion, starring at half-back in the semi-final win against Collingwood and being one of the Saints' few good players in the preliminary final loss to Hawthorn. These last few games saw him burst onto the AFL scene and he was named St Kilda's Most Promising Young Player.

2009 season

Clarke played in 12 of 22 matches in the 2009 season home and away rounds in which St Kilda qualified in first position for the finals, winning the club’s third minor premiership

2009 AFL season

-Round 1 :-Round 2:-Round 3 :-Round 4:-Round 5 :-Round 6:-Round 7:-Round 8:-Round 9 :-Round 10:...

.

St Kilda qualified for the 2009 AFL Grand Final

2009 AFL Grand Final

The 2009 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the St Kilda Football Club and the Geelong Football Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 26 September 2009...

after qualifying and preliminary finals wins. Clarke played in the grand final when St Kilda was defeated by 12 points.

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