World Footy News

BBC Sport have a tremendous 30 minute documentary on the rise of Collingwood's Irish recruit Martin Clarke. The story looks at his junior days of Gaelic football through to his first successful season at the Pies (with coach Mick Malthouse hailing Marty's amazing achievements), and his end of year return home where he again donned his local colours as well as bringing some footy to his former school.

The video gives great insight into how much Clarke is already missed back home and what a talent he has for both sports. It also demonstrates the incredible array of resources Collingwood have to develop a young player - from top quality gym facilities to an altitude training room and video analysis of player body mechanics. Some Irish officials assure themselves that many "Irish experiments" will fail in Australia and return after a year or two. But the modern era of recruitment is very much different to when Jim Stynes was in the minority in making the transition back in the 1980s. The professional scouting and extra resources could well see the success rate become very high, and early indications are that it has happened already.

Unfortunately at time of writing there appears to be an audio synchronisation issue, but the documentary can be viewed here: Clarke Rules, OK!. Thanks to Aussie Rules Wales' Bryce Stone for the tip off.

We've also updated the International Players in Australia page with some photos of the earlier players, courtesy of the AFL.