Entering the mid-season bye gives us the chance to reflect on the season to date, so there is no better time to look back on the performances of our four senior debutants. 

Click HERE to relive Matt Guelfi’s debut, HERE for Kobe Mutch’s and HERE for Jordan Ridley’s.

DYLAN CLARKE – Round nine vs Geelong

-       Nine disposals

-       Five tackles

It is hard not to get the sense that the youthful enthusiasm Dylan Clarke brought into the team alongside fellow debutant Jordan Ridley and fourth-gamer Matt Guelfi made a significant impact in the impressive Country Game victory.

While Clarke may not have racked up the remarkable numbers he had been gathering at VFL level, his statistics did not do his strong debut justice.

Coming into the side off the back of several stellar performances in the VFL, Clarke gathered nine disposals working hard throughout the ground to support his fellow on-ballers.

The most encouraging sign from his first AFL match was his hard-nosed nature, fighting strongly in the contest and laying five tackles.

Lining up on some of the competition’s greatest midfielders failed to intimidate Clarke, who used the Cats’ star-studded line-up as an opportunity to develop his craft.

He is yet to return to the senior line-up, but it does not look far away after continuing his dominance in the VFL on the weekend with a massive 38 disposals, 11 marks and 11 tackles.

Clarke said: “It was an unreal experience just to play with this group of boys, the way they looked after me and kind of took me under all their wings, it was incredible. And to get the win as well, I loved every minute of it.”