mt.wellington
Warriors Orange Peeler
Contributor
Erin Clark
Erin Clark to debut. Team will run out 1-17. No Manu...
Last edited:
Erin Clark to debut. Team will run out 1-17. No Manu...
Lord Gnome of Howick MBE
mt.wellington
Warriors Orange Peeler
Contributor
1-17 as named...
1 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (c)
2 Tuimoala Lolohea
3 David Fusitua
4 Solomone Kata
5 Ken Maumalo
6 Ata Hingano
7 Shaun Johnson
8 Albert Vete
9 Issac Luke
10 Charlie Gubb
11 Bunty Afoa
12 Ryan Hoffman
13 Simon Mannering
14 Erin Clark
15 Jacob Lillyman
16 Sam Lisone
17 Bodene Thompson
1995Warriorsfan
Player Agent
Contributor
Erin Clark has signed with the Raiders.
Wondering if our getting Santo this season had anything to do with Clarke going to Canberra.
Beastmode
Just another day in paradise
Contributor
“Erin’s management sought a release on personal grounds,” said Vodafone Warriors recruitment and development manager Tony Iro.
I guess it was a personal decision to go and play for Canberra.
Tim burgess
Should the Warriors resign Erin Clark.
Apparently he has been released by the Raiders
Apparently he has been released by the Raiders
It's now a position with a lot of depth at the club
tajhay
🏉
Is there a reason for the release? He was signed for 3 years by Raiders.
Navigator
Christchurch Born n bred white bait fed.
Contributor
Apparently he was released because he became homesick.
Dave furner announcement yesterday
mt.wellington
Warriors Orange Peeler
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ramraider78
Geoff Public
Don't Warri Be Happy
Contributor
Former Warrior Erin Clark has a 2 year deal with the Titans
www.zerotackle.com
Titans make two signings
Gold Coast have acquired a former junior prodigy as well as an ex-Warrior.
www.zerotackle.com
jonesy101
I see Erin Clark has made it back into the NRL with a bench spot for the Titans. Good on him.
Weno
Hope he goes well and nails that spot.
They say his work ethic earned him his chance.
Good luck.
Lisone holds his start.
Almost a one hit wonder: How Erin Clark saved his career
Source: https://www.nrl.com/news/2022/08/05/almost-a-one-hit-wonder-how-erin-clark-saved-his-career/When Erin Clark’s once promising rugby league career stalled in the months following his 20th birthday, he knew something drastic would need to happen for him to ever want, or have the chance, to return to the NRL arena.
His rise to first-grade as a teenager with the Warriors in 2017 was quick, but so too was the subsequent fall, and months later Clark made a mid-season switch to the Raiders.
That too was ill-fated and lasted just months before he was released without playing a single NRL game for the Green Machine.
His return to Auckland appeared to signal the end of any professional rugby league prospects, but instead over the next two years Clark slowly discovered a new level of self-awareness and purpose back at his junior club the Manurewa Marlins.
Now set to play his 50th Telstra Premiership on Friday night against the Storm, the 24-year-old Titan credits the two-year stint back home in Auckland for getting his life and career back on track.
“I’m glad I had those two years off because they kinda molded me into who I am today, the father I am, the person I am,” Clark told NRL.com.
“Just making me appreciate what I have. If you do this from so young it feels like more of a job than something you love, which was the point it got to.
“We all have our journey and I’m happy those two years came, because I needed it to refresh and reflect.”
A flashy halfback growing up, Clark was better than most he came up against in Auckland and he knew it.
Named by the Warriors as the Player of the Tournament at the New Zealand secondary schools nationals in 2014, he was hot property well before making his National Youth Competition debut with the club as a 17-year-old the following year.
But with a mouth to match his fast feet, Clark had a habit of rubbing people up the wrong way at times, according to former Manurewa coach Ben Phillips.
“I used to go down and watch his high school games and think ‘look at this cocky little prick’, that’s how I used to see him,” Phillips told NRL.com
“I quickly found he was actually a nice fella, you just had to get past that arrogance.
“Don’t get me wrong, even when he came back [to Manurewa in 2018] he had a bit of a big head.
“I think a few of the boys sort of pinned him down a bit and that’s when the real Erin turned up and started contributing.”
When he looks back now, Clark said his mindset at the time was never going to cut it in the NRL.
“I was just young, arrogant, thought you had it all. But looking back I had nothing,” Clark said.
“I had good backing, good parents, so it wasn’t that. They always kept me grounded.
After experiencing life at both the Warriors and Raiders, and playing on the international stage with Samoa, it was back in the Auckland club environment, where most play for the love of it and maybe an occasional fuel voucher, that Clark rediscovered his passion for the game.
Surrounded by his childhood friends, the desire to give it another crack at the highest level started to return.
“That was one of the reasons I went back there, just to have that social side of footy, play with my mates, like we all do when we are younger,” Clark said.
“Even just to have a beer after the game with a few of your friends, that was something I enjoyed.
“I had good people around me and they always kept whispering in my ear ‘bro, you shouldn’t be here, you know where you should be’, so that kept me striving to get back to the NRL.”
Phillips said during that time Clark also benefitted from the presence of Manurewa’s head coach at the time, Neccrom Areaiiti, who played a lone NRL match for South Sydney back in 2012 and could relate to the situation better than most.
“When [Erin] came back his head wasn’t in a good place,” Phillips said.
“He just wanted to play with his mates and be with all his boys again. He found the love again for the game because he was playing with all his mates again.
“Neccrom had been in that environment the same as Erin, and Neccrom was always on him, not pressuring him, but guiding him and encouraging him.
“We are just so stoked for the guy now; we are so proud.”
As he approaches game 50 at NRL level, Clark also finds himself firmly in the frame for New Zealand selection at this year’s World Cup.
His Kiwis prospects will have only improved in recent weeks too, with Clark showing an ability to play as a middle forward as well as a hooker for the Gold Coast.
Kiwis coach Michael Maguire said Clark had been on his radar for some time before he picked him in the wider squad for the mid-year Test against Tonga.
“To have Erin come in and have a look at what is required at this level, it’s up to him now to step it up and take it forward,” Maguire told NRL.com.
“He wants to grow his game, that’s what I have always got from Erin.
“He’s talking to Issac Luke, he looks at other players to grow his game. It takes time to understand how to play that role at the highest level.”
Clark now has the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of his mum Temepara – who played for New Zealand in netball – in representing his country of birth, having already had the chance to play for Samoa.
mt.wellington
Warriors Orange Peeler
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mt.wellington
Warriors Orange Peeler
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Clark keen to lock in his Gold Coast comeback
Colleen Edwards NRL ReporterFri 11 Nov 2022, 12:10 PM
After defying the odds to reach his 50-game milestone this past season, Erin Clark his hoping to recapture the good form that had him on the radar of New Zealand coach Michael Maguire for this year’s Rugby League World Cup.
However, he’ll firstly have to be declared 100 percent fit and healthy and overcome an injury to his meniscus in his left knee that he suffered in Round 22 against Manly.
Well on the road to recovery following an arthroscopic procedure and on track to be available for selection for the Gold Coast Titans in their Round 1 match against Wests Tigers, Clark was so keen to put himself in the best position to be part of the 17 next season, he’s been showing up early at the club’s Parkwood base, despite not having to report to duty until November 14.
“Everything is going good, knee is on track … I have just started running, changing directions, so hopefully be back with the team in three to four weeks," Clark said.
“I thought I would come back [early], just so I can get my knee right and hopefully when the other boys come down, I will be running by then.”
While he had played one game with the Warriors, making his NRL debut as a 19-year-old in 2017 after impressing as a youngster, Clark took a break from the game for two years, returning home to Auckland and playing with his junior club Manurewa Marlins which relight the fire in his belly.
Grateful for his second chance in the NRL with the Titans, Clark was happy to play anywhere the team needed him, but found another level to his game after being moved into lock by coach Justin Holbrook in Round 18.
“It felt a lot more natural,” Clark said. “Growing up, I was a halfback, I was 10kgs lighter, I played halfback and I was never a natural hooker, never played it growing up; I just moved into there when I came down here.
“To be back there felt a lot more natural, I just felt like I was playing footy back at home in the backyard, that’s the best thing about it.”
However, given his injury setback late last season and the number of quality players joining the Titans line-up for 2023, the former Samoa international was not getting too far ahead of himself or voicing a preference to play one position over another.
“I think I got to realise I am lucky to even be in the 17, so I am not going to question it or go and tell them to put me in this place, I am lucky to be in the 17,” Clark said.
“(That’s) if I am in the 17 each week. We have a lot of good forwards, we have a lot of good players coming to the club, so I have to make sure I put my best foot forward, whether that is on the bench or wherever I play, I just want to help out where I can.
“Especially coming back from an injury too, it will take me a while to catch up, so that challenge of getting myself right to perform on the field, plus be in there with the other boys. [Competition for spots is] healthy, it’s healthy for the club too.”
However, Clark didn’t shy away from the disappointment the club felt about their 2022 season and shared some lofty goals he held for the club for next season, drawing on the finals appearance of the Cowboys for inspiration.
“It was pretty tough, everyone saw that … everyone expected so much, and we didn’t perform,” Clark said.
“For myself personally, I was happy [with my football], my confidence grew in my footy, but as a team, it was pretty tough to be nearly at the bottom and it was lucky the boys pegged a couple at the back end of the year to bring us up to 13th.
“It was disappointing, but what is good is that we have next year to prove ourselves.
“We did learn a lot from last year. A lot of us are real young, we are still early on in our NRL journey, so there is a lot of expectations on us in this game, but definitely we will be better for it.
“The least I reckon is to make the top four, and then I think the main goal is to win the grand final, to make the top four as I said, the Cowboys, they did well (this year after finishing second last in 2021).”
Erin Clark
The NRL profile of Erin Clark including career statistics, season stats, games, tries, goals, tackles and fantasy scores.
www.titans.com.au
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