Recruiting managers, it seems, can be like the proverbial elephant. They never forget.

Certainly not highly regarded Sydney Swans recruiting chief Kinnear Beatson.

When asked about the background behind recent Swans recruit Ryan Clarke, Beatson, now General Manager – Recruiting and List Strategy, explained: “We really liked him in his draft year, we’ve followed him closely since then, and when the opportunity arose to get him without affecting our draft position this year we saw it as a very good deal.”

Sydney secured the 21-year-old North Melbourne midfielder last week in exchange for its fourth-round selection in this year’s National Draft, which at the time was selection 61.

So in pure numeric terms it was a big win for Sydney after Clarke was originally taken by North with selection 31 in the 2015 National Draft, in which the Swans snared Callum Mills (pick 3), Tyrone Leonardis (51) and Jordan Dawson (56).

And Clarke will head to Sydney three years and 40 AFL games into his AFL career, including 19 games in 2018 at an average of 19.7 possessions per match.

Clarke, older brother of Essendon’s Dylan Clarke, is a product of Melbourne Grammar, where he was captain of the school’s first XVIII, and the Eastern Ranges in the TAC Cup.

In his first profile in the annual AFL Guide in 2016 it said of him: “North’s second pick in the 2015 AFL National Draft, Clarke is a prolific ball-winner both at stoppages and on the outside. He enjoyed an outstanding season for Eastern Ranges last year, averaging 31 possessions per game and kicking 16 goals. He was also the standout player in the Ranges’ run to the TAC Cup Grand Final. Averaged 19 possessions in five games with Vic Metro in the AFL U18 Championships and Roos fans will quickly come to love his preparedness to run himself to the point of exhaustion in games.”

He debuted in Round 16, 2016, 23 days after his 19^th birthday – not even half the age of then teammate and AFL games record-holder Brent Harvey – and had 21 possessions in a 32-point loss to West Coast.

Wearing jumper number 13, Clarke had 20 or more possessions in his first three games and finished the 2017 season with disposal counts of 24, 31, 27, 25 and 27.

His career-best 31 disposals was in Round 20 against Collingwood at Docklands in a nine-goal loss.

After the 2018 AFL Guide predicted Clarke would be “a big part of its future success” he played the first 10 games of this year, and after a stint in the VFL played the last nine. He topped 20 possessions on 10 occasions.

Clarke is the eighth Eastern Ranges player drafted by the Swans since the inception of the National Draft in 1986.

Erni Parthenides, taken with selection 57 in 1994, was the first, but he never played at AFL level.

Clinton King followed at pick 21 in 1995. He played nine games.

The Swans struck their first Ranges gem in 1997 when they picked up Jason Saddington with pick 11. He played 142 games with the Swans between 1998 and 2005, including five finals, before a serious knee injury cut short his time at the Club.

He later played 20 games with Carlton between 2006 and 2008.

The Swans also drafted Brett Rose with selection 59 in 1997 but he didn’t play at AFL level.

In 2002 the Swans plucked another gun from the Ranges when they jagged Nick Malceski with selection 64. He played 176 games for the Swans between 2005 and 2014 despite undergoing three knee reconstructions. He featured in the grand final losses of 2006 and 2014 but would help the Swans seal the 2012 premiership when he kicked the winning goal against the Hawks. 

A 2014 All-Australian who four times finished in the top 10 in the Club Champion, Malceski later played 34 games for the Gold Coast Suns across 2015 and 2016 and is now on the coaching staff at the Suns.

Two current Swans are also Ranges graduates – Jack Maibaum, yet to play in the AFL, was selection 45 in 2016 and Ryley Stoddart, who played in Rounds 10 and 11 this year, was pick 53 in 2017.