Young Essendon midfielder Dylan Clarke is thrilled to sign on with the Bombers for another year.
The 19-year-old has impressed as an inside on-baller this year and is now set to stay at The Hangar until at least the end of the 2019 season.
Clarke said he was “pretty stoked” to extend his time as a Bomber and is happy to have the contract out of the way midway through the season.
“I love this footy club, so just staying here for another year at least, (I’m) really excited,” Clarke said.
“I’m pretty relieved I guess in one sense, but obviously just pretty happy with it as well and can just focus on my footy for the rest of the year.”
After making his AFL debut in round nine after a string of outstanding performances in the VFL, Clarke said he is hungrier than ever to return to the senior side.
“I kind of have a taste for it now and I just keep wanting to put my name up and then we’ll see how it goes and (I’ll) hopefully get a few more opportunities,” he said.
“This year’s been a bit different playing more as an inside mid in the VFL, so hopefully I can just keep playing well in there and then that will translate to more opportunities in the AFL.”
Clarke said having the chance to learn from experienced players like VFL captain Heath Hocking and senior Bombers David Myers and Travis Colyer has helped his development as a contested ball-winner.
“It’s great, so we have Heath - obviously he’s our skipper - and then on the weekend we had Myersy and Trav coming back through injury, so it was great to have their experience there.
“You can just kind of look up to them and they obviously give a lot back to the younger boys as well, so it’s really good.”
Clarke’s main goal now is to keep pushing for his AFL return and secure a spot in the line-up.
“I guess (I want to) keep playing consistent footy in the twos and if I do get an opportunity just make sure I take it with both hands.
“Just get back in the ones team and try to put a few games together consistently, so if I can get a couple more for the rest of the year I’d be pretty happy.”
