Jordan Clark is underrated because he doesn't play in Victoria, says North Melbourne coach Alistair Clarkson
Master coach Alastair Clarkson believes Fremantle dasher Jordan Clark is underrated because he does not play in Victoria.
Ahead of his North Melbourne side's clash with the Dockers on Saturday, Clarkson gave a glowing review of the unheralded half-back, who is in the mix for a maiden All-Australian blazer halfway through the season.
Clark is the Dockers' fourth-highest rated player this season and the 12th ranked defender in the league, according to Champion Data figures.
For his role, he is considered elite for disposals, contested possessions, intercept possessions and pressure.
'Yeah, geez he's been a good player hasn't he,' Clarkson said.
'He is sort of a little bit underrated and unheralded perhaps because he plays over here and the Melbourne media don't see him every week like they would some of the players that are based in Melbourne.
'But he's been a really, really good player at Geelong, but he's really taken his game — it seems — to another level here.
'He's a guy that defends really well, but uses the ball and helps set it up.'
Clarkson was also full of praise for in-form Dockers guns Shai Bolton and Luke Jackson and warned they couldn't play a negating role on all three of Justin Longmuir's weapons.
'We'll have to keep an eye on that ... but we can't sit and negate every talented player that they've got, otherwise you're just chasing your tail,' he said.
'There's a part of us where we just need to go out and play the game and if some of these guys get off the chain, that's where we need to try and stamp and negate their influence.'
Asked how he would handle the influence of Bolton, Clarkson said it was made difficult by the dual premiership player's ability to influence the game in different parts of the ground.
Bolton spent more time forward in Fremantle's win over Gold Coast a fortnight ago. He kicked three goals and laid the game-winning tackle.
'He was particularly strong against Gold Coast a few weeks back, I think he kicked three goals in that game,' Clarkson said.
'If you have got a player in your side that can kick three goals and also generate sort of 25 touches in the midfield like he can, they're pretty valuable players and that's why worked so hard to get him from Richmond and bring him home.
'The difficult part about it is because he can swing from midfield to forward and you think he's a midfielder and then he spits forward and then you think he's a forward and he goes up into the midfield.
'That's the quality of him as a player, to be able to swing and switch from one to the other really quickly and sometimes you can stuff around your structures a little bit.
'We need to work out what you do there, but I reckon at some point in the game if he is really hurting us then we will need to try and negate him somehow.'
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The Age
2 hours ago
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Force need to set Lions tour tone by showing some mongrel
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