Xavier Clarke is an Indigenous 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...

 player 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). Formerly playing for St Kilda, at the send of the 2009 season he was traded to the Brisbane Lions

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...

.

Early life

Clarke has Indigenous Australian heritage and his ancestry can be traced to the Gambalang, a Northern Territory tribe.

AFL career

Clarke was selected by St Kilda with the fifth overall pick in the 2001 AFL National Draft. He played 57 games during his first three seasons as a Saints player. In the 2005 season, however, he struggled in form and his season was ended early when he injured his hamstring

Hamstring

In human anatomy, the hamstring refers to any one of the three posterior thigh muscles, or to the tendons that make up the borders of the space behind the knee. In modern anatomical contexts, however, they usually refer to the posterior thigh muscles, or the tendons of the semitendinosus, the...

 in the Round 17 game against Collingwood

Collingwood Football Club

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

.

Originally, Clarke wore the Number 20 guernsey

Guernsey (clothing)

A guernsey, or gansey, is a seaman's knitted woollen sweater, similar to a jersey, which originated in the Channel Island of the same name.-Origins:...

. When former St Kilda champion Nathan Burke

Nathan Burke

Nathan Burke is a former Australian rules footballer.He was a tough rover who always backed himself in a contest and was one of the most courageous footballers to play for the St Kilda Football Club. He set the club record for most number of games at his retirement, with 323 games which was broken...

 retired in 2003 he awarded Clarke his Number 3 guernsey.

Clarke's brother Raphael

Raphael Clarke

Raphael Clarke is an Australian rules footballer for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League . He is the brother of Brisbane utility Xavier Clarke, who was also a St Kilda player from 2002 until 2009....

 plays for St Kilda.
Following the 2009 season a deal was made to send Clarke to Brisbane for Pick 60 in the National Draft.
Clarke played his first and only game for 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...

 in the Round 18 loss to Melbourne at the Gabba. He suffered a hamstring injury in the first half and was originally ruled out for a week but did not play again.

In 2011 he had almost completed a full preseason when he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

External links