100 games and a name on the locker for Clarke

Aidan Clarke was hoping his 100-game milestone would be the kickstart of a finals campaign in 2025 and while that’s not quite to be, reaching the mark is beyond all his dreams when he originally returned from Bunbury.

When Clarke finished playing colts at Swan Districts and had a first taste of league football back in 2016 with the first three games of his career, he returned home to Bunbury and had no idea if we would ever be back to Perth let alone to play in the WAFL.

However, he was back by 2019 and ever since has become a key part of the Swan Districts team with his lethal left boot making him one of the best kicks in the competition while his toughness and ball winning ability have made him a match winner for the black-and-whites.

The 26-year-old will now reach his 100th game this Saturday in the last game of the 2025 season for Swan Districts in Mandurah against Peel Thunder with him proud to get there as a bright spot in what has been a tough year on a number of fronts.

“It does mean a lot and if you’d told me when I was 18 and I moved back down to Bunbury for a couple of years that end up back here and play 100 games for Swans I’d probably tell you that you’re dreaming,” Clarke said.

“To play 100 games to get your name on the locker is something that I’ve always wanted to get, and it did seem far away only a few years ago.

“Then especially with this year with how it’s gone it’s just nice to finish on a milestone. Obviously I was planning to play a few more this year but it’s worked out at least that I get to 100 in our last game. It will just be good to get a win finish off what’s been a tough year.”

Getting name on No. 7 locker

Clarke will now have his name forever on the No. 7 locker in the changerooms at Steel Blue Oval. Given he couldn’t wait for the chance to get that number on his back, it’s something he will always rightfully be proud of.

“I sort of had my eyes on the No. 7 coming through the colts and Georgie Hampson was rolling around in it before I got onto it,” Clarke said.

“As soon as I heard he was finishing up, I went to the property manager and quickly snapped that one up.

“But you look around all the lockers and there’s a lot of great names and great players, and with footy we all play to win that premiership success which obviously is hard to come by.

“So just to get to leave your name anywhere in a club to be remembered is probably the next best thing.”

Battling through a bad knee

While Clarke has still played some impressive football again in 2025 for Swan Districts, he’s been doing while battling an on-going knee complaint.

The endless cyclone of trying to get it better during the week but taking a step backward on game day has made it a long year, but he’s looking forward being able to spend more time on getting it right over summer ahead of the 2026 season.

“It has been a difficult year and I have a bit of an auto-immune thing going on which we’re struggling to find an answer for,” Clarke said.

“It has made it hard to manage and put in what I’d like to be able to do. You’re trying to do all this stuff to combat it during the week but then when you play on a weekend it reverses the process.

“It has been tough but I knew I had to miss a few games at the start of the season so I knew I was cutting it fine to get to 100 and couldn’t miss any.

“It has been tough but there are a lot more worse things than go on in life and I’m grateful to still be able to play WAFL footy. I’m just happy to run out there on a weekend and forget about what goes on during the week.”

Reaching milestones with teammates

Clarke’s 100-game milestone is fresh off Jiah Reidy reaching the same mark last week in the win over West Coast while Anthony Stephens and Josh Cipro have also brought up the century in 2025.

Clarke is glad to be reaching these sort of milestones with long-term teammates and has no doubt it holds Swans in good stead moving forward combined with the young group coming up beneath them.

“It is nice for us all to be getting to these milestones and especially with me and Josh who have played all our footy together,” Clarke said.

“We’ve been in the same team since colts and we’re probably the only two from that colts team who are still playing league footy.

“Time flies when you’re playing WAFL and you probably don’t stop and look back at the years too often, and it does feel like it’s gone so fast.

“It is nice to have a lot of the boys having played a lot of footy together and with the young boys coming through. It’s the perfect balance for a group to take the next step next season.”

Reflecting on this 2025 season

While Swan Districts rightfully had high hopes of how 2025 would pan out on the back of hosting a preliminary final in 2024, it does just feel like it’s been one thing after another that’s got in the way.

Tom Edwards and Nik Rokahr departed before the season even started, Clarke himself was then suspended early on and there’s been long-term injuries throughout to Zane Trew, Jarvis Pina, Jake Pasini, Will Collins, Brandon Erceg and Seb Bright.

While there are reasons for the season Swans have ended up having to fall short of playing finals, there is no one at the club wanting to make excuses and the playing group will be doing everything they can to respond hard in 2026.

“It obviously is hard when you lose a few key players especially before the year that you weren’t expecting to not be there, but we also had injuries all last year and boys come in and replace them,” Clarke said.

“So you sort of expected to be able to do the same thing this year and you can look at it as an excuse, but we still think we’re a good team and should have been performing better this year especially at home.

“We couldn’t seem to get a win at home this year compared to last year. There’s lots of ups and downs and obviously as the season’s gone on it does feel like a bit of a lost year, but have to try and take positives out of it and get back to where we were next season.”

Aiming for quick bounce back

With the returns from injury of the likes of Collins, Trew, Pina and Pasini combined with some potential recruits and then the continued growth of emerging players who have grasped their chances in 2025, and Clarke is confident of a quick bounce back from Swans in 2026.

“Especially with some of the young guys like Max Chipper and Ayden Cartwright, they’ve all got more games into them and have taken a little step up so I think next year with those other boys back it will become pretty tight for spots,” he said.

“We’re probably looking at having a list of 30 or 35 guys who should be pushing to play league footy so having that depth will be a good thing for us too.”

Staying unbeaten against Eagles

Speaking of Cartwright, he was the hero last Saturday night when he kicked the winning goal just before the siren to snatch the win for Swan Districts to against the Eagles at Mineral Resources Park.

Clarke was relieved to keep Swans’ perfect record against West Coast going, but the late night finish meant he was more ready for bed afterwards than celebrate too much.

“It was pretty tame celebrations actually considering it was such a late finish, it was a bit hard to get going at nine o’clock,” Clarke said.

“But in the moment I was just thinking that we always seem to play these boys close and then just pinch a win against them.

“Even Tommy kicked a goal after the siren against them and it always seems to be a close game when it probably shouldn’t be, but they had a few good players in and their big boys were taking marks all night. But it was good to keep the winning record intact against them.”