Coming from a strong sporting family, his father David Clarke Sr played over 200 games for Geelong and his brother Tim played with Hawthorn,[2] while his sister is Olympic runner Georgie Clarke.
Clarke, a pacy wingman, graduated from the Geelong Falcons to make his AFL debut in 1999.
[3] He struggled with both his form and injuries in 2003 and was involved in a three-way trade in that year's draft, where Hawthorn received Simon Beaumont and Geelong got David Loats.
With his first appearance in 2005 he brought up his 100th AFL game, against Adelaide at Football Park, but played just once more for Carlton.
[6] In July 2012, Clarke was suspended for 15 weeks for crouching behind and tripping a GFL umpire, who was running backwards after a ball-up.