In his third year at the club, Martin Clarke played in the opening 12 matches before seeing out the rest of the year in the VFL.
Possessed with great speed and foot skills, Clarke called a premature end to his career because of his desire to head back home to Ireland and become a teacher.
The 21-year-old finished his career at Collingwood and in the AFL with 46 games including five finals matches.
Clarke will be remembered by Collingwood supporters for his exciting attack on the ball and his deft touches around the packs propelling the ball to an advantage for his teammates.
2009 highlights
Round one v Adelaide: Clarke had a strong start to the season with a consistent game against Adelaide finishing the match with 20 possessions, seven marks and two goals. He gathered the ball across the ground spending more time in the midfield and up forward than in 2008.
Mark Neeld: I think Marty played the first 12 games of the year in a row in the AFL team and was used as that running half-back type and then he went onto the wing. Marty really lost his position in the side because he had to return to Ireland for his sister's wedding. That coincided with our good run of wins and Marty couldn't break back into the senior side because the players that came in and replaced him in those areas were playing good footy. Sometimes that's just the way it goes.
2009 AFL statistics
| G | K | H | D | M | G | B | T | C |
| 12 | 11.4/69.3% | 6.7/87.5% | 18.1 | 4.1 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 2.8 | 0.8 |
2009 VFL statistics
| G | K | H | D | M | T |
| 10 | 12.4 | 9.9 | 22.3 | 3.6 | 3.2 |
CTV
