FEATURE
Mitch Clarke was already an outstanding rising point guard after winning two championships in NBL1 West by the end of 2021, but he's returned to Perry Lakes Hawks in 2023 a more complete and dangerous player, and his continued emergence deserves the spotlight.
Clarke began his career in the then SBL at the Hawks back in 2017 when he was still a 17-year-old, but immediately looked right at home even against bigger and more experienced opponents, and often matched up on import point guards and the opposition's best players.
By 2018, he was a crucial part of the championship winning team for Perry Lakes, helped lead them to another Grand Final in 2020 and then was the starting point guard and one of the stars of the team that won the title in 2021.
So already by the time he decided to spend 2022 in the NBL1 South at the Bendigo Braves, he was a two-time championship winner at the Hawks and also earned the chance as a development player at the Perth Wildcats.
There didn’t appear much to keep improving. But Clarke has now returned to the Hawks in 2023 a better and more complete player, a bigger offensive threat, and a player who appears ready to no longer be in that d
evelopment phase but at the peak of his powers as a genuine star.
Wanting a life as professional basketballer
It's been already quite a journey for Clarke who has crammed a lot into a career while still only being 23 years of age as a two-time championship NBL1 West winner, having spent a season in the NBL1 South and having played in the NBL at the Wildcats.
Already at 23, he's accomplished what most young basketballers could only dream of, but at the same time he feels as though it's just getting started. While he doesn’t know where it's going to take him, he feels it's time to take that leap as a full-time professional basketballer.
"Last year with the Wildcats when I was just a training player I felt so confident when I was on the court and competitive in the squad," Clarke said.
"I felt like I was really adding value to the group at trainings and was able to really compete at that NBL level.
"From a development perspective, I think I've got a long way to go but I think I'm ready to play as a professional, but with doing that you will only keep on getting better at the same time by being in that environment. I'm super ready to make that leap of faith and be a full-time professional and to go from there."
Happy to do that anywhere
While Clarke's dream is to now obviously ply his trade in the NBL having had a taste of it with the Wildcats firstly as a development player and then as a training player, he also knows it might not be immediately possible.
It appears the chance at the Wildcats won't be there at least for this coming NBL season for Clarke and there's precious few opportunities for young locals across the other teams around the league.
Clarke couldn’t be doing more with his play and dedication to his craft at Perry Lakes to earn a chance, but should an NBL offer not come his way, playing overseas is something he's now open to and having a UK passport will only help those chances.
"The NBL has always been the goal since committing to basketball and being able to keep playing in Australia over summer has a lot of appeal to it, and it would be awesome," he said.
"But any international opportunity, I would be super keen to take on and it would be a great experience being able to live in another country and learn a new style of play, and that sort of thing. I'm fully open to that if anything was to come up."
It was quite the daunting mission for Clarke to take himself right out of his comfort zone and move to Bendigo last season to play in the NBL1 South at the Braves.
First of all, it was off a short preparation as he left once the NBL season ended, had one training session with his team and then made his debut that weekend with a group of teammates he had never met before.
The only familiar face was Stephen Black as coach who he knew from back home while he coached Willetton and his wife Deanna (Doccy) was coaching Perry Lakes where Mitch's mum was a championship winning assistant with her.
But aside from that, Clarke was thrown in the deep end with a new team and a new league, but he felt pushing himself like that at that point in his career was the best thing for him.
"Having to go over to Bendigo and play with 10 guys I had never met before or played with before, and having to try and make it all feel seamless and gel well as a group so that we could play our best really helped me grow as a point guard, and work out how to get a team to play together," Clarke said.
"Then obviously that's helped me coming back being more familiar with my teammates and knowing their strengths straight away, and having a bit of a different role where I can have a bit more focus on scoring the ball and playmaking a lot more rather than relying on the imports around me to be our star players.
"That's helped to round out my game I think and has given me confidence that I can play different roles in different teams. It's been really good."
Still developing all the time as a player
Because Clarke has already played 129 games in the league, has been a key player on two championship winning teams and has spent a season in the NBL1 South at Bendigo, and been a development player at the Wildcats, it's easy to forget sometimes he is still only 23 years of age.
He got a chance so young to be an important member of a Perry Lakes team that has been a perennial contender every season he's been part of. He turned himself into an outstanding playmaking point guard and solid defender by the time he left at the end of 2021.
However, upon returning to Perry Lakes in 2023, Clarke is clearly a more fully developed player and a bigger offensive threat. He's now averaging a career-high 17.7 points a game in 2023 to go with 5.1 assists and 4.4 rebounds.
He's also shooting at 46.6 per cent from the field, 32.1 per cent from three-point territory and 80.5 per cent from the foul line, and feels he continues to develop and grow as a player all the time.
"I was super lucky when I was young and Perry Lakes had a bit of a gap at the point guard position," Clarke said.
"We had a really local, Ben Dixon, who left to pursue his career elsewhere and Parso sort of really backed in me when I was really young. That was really cool but I think over the last two years they have been really invaluable for me.
"I've had the opportunity to be coached by two NBL coaches, an ex-NBL player who was an absolute star of the game and is super smart, and Parso here at Perry Lakes. So that's all only helped me broaden my knowledge of the game and think about things a little bit differently, and learn how to play against NBL opposition.
"Being able to train against guys like Bryce, Mitch Norton and Todd Blanchfield has been amazing, and then most point guards I play against are imports. It's pretty important in the NBL1 to have a guy who can score the ball and as a point guard you have the ball in your hands a lot so it's pretty cool that you're a local against those imports all the time.
"It's always a really good challenge and ever since I was young it's always been one of those things where I want to play on the opposition's import point guard because they're usually their best player and I want to test myself and see what I can do against them."
Coming back home in 2023
In a lot of ways, Clarke feels it was the best thing he ever did to push himself out of his comfort zone by moving to Bendigo last year to play with the Braves, to live out of home and to continue to grow as a person and player.
At the same time, he did miss being home with his family and friends, and did miss everything about being involved at Perry Lakes.
As a result, he couldn’t wait to get back and had nothing else in mind for 2023 other than returning to the Hawks, and to put into practice back at his home club how much he's developed his all-round game since that 2021 championship.
That's not only from playing under Black in Bendigo, but also his season as a training player last season at the Wildcats under John Rillie after being a development player under Scott Morrison the previous season.
"It's been really nice. Getting to play with your best friends again and old teammates that you've had for six or seven years has been really good," Clarke said.
"Then just being around friends and family again has made everything a lot easier from a living perspective so it's been really good.
"Things do feel a little bit different coming back. I've had a lot of basketball experiences away from the group now and I've had three different head coaches over the last 18 months.
"That's really helped me develop as a player and has opened my mind up to different concepts and ways to play the game, ideas and things like that.
"I guess I've come back now with a broader perspective on basketball and how to play, and that sort of thing. I'm just trying to fit that back into the culture and team style of Perry Lakes, and that took a little bit of an adjustment initially but after a week or two it was pretty seamless."
What's changed/stayed the same at Perry Lakes
Coming back to Perry Lakes this season and a lot is still the same for Clarke with three-time championship winning coach Matt Parsons still at the helm, and two-time championship winning captains Rob Cassir and Ben Purser still going strong.
There's also still Grand Final MVP Andrew Ferguson along with long-time teammates Cooper Hamilton, Bailey Cole and newer arrivals like Matt Leary and Lewis Thomas.
The biggest change is the arrival of former Lakeside Lightning dynamic pair Jack Isenbarger and Daniel Alexander, but what Clarke likes is how everyone has come together for the good of the team with the one goal of winning a championship.
"I think it's pretty similar in a lot of ways. Ben and Rob have really held the ship and driven a really successful culture, along with Parso," Clarke said.
"I think the additions of Jack Isenbarger and Dan Alexander have been pretty seamless, those guys are some of the best teammates you could ask for. They are super happy for other's success and they want to fit into the team culture, and play their role.
"The mindset since being back has been one of wanting to win a championship and that's what it has always been at Perry Lakes. I think everyone has bought into that same goal and I think it's pretty similar this year and it's been nice to be back in that familiar environment."
Well placed to make a run at another championship
Now that the run home to the playoffs for the 2023 season has started, the Hawks are well placed to make another run at the championship currently sitting in second spot on the table with a 12-4 record.
However, after starting the season winning nine of the first 10 games, they have split their past six matches and Clarke is looking for them to find some more consistency between now and the beginning of the finals.
"We've got a really tough run home where we've got a lot of the top six teams that we come up against," he said.
"That will be a really good test for us and hopefully we'll have a better idea of where we stand coming into the end of the season. Consistency is a big thing for us and over the last six games we've gone 3-3.
"We had a really good patch in the first half of the season and then we had a bit of a rough one, and now it's just that consistency and that ability to just grind out the difficult times to get back onto what works for us. Consistency will be super important for us in the back end of the season now."
Support of your parents
You wouldn’t find two more supportive parents than Kerry and Peter have been for Mitch either.
With his dad's on-going support and motivation, and then his mum's cool head and basketball insights too, he couldn’t be more thankful for everything they've done to help him already achieve what he has.
"My dad would be my No. 1 fan. He comes to every game, is a big loyal supporter and he's been a massive support," Clarke said.
"He's always challenged me to get out of my comfort zone and to really make the most of my opportunities. He had a sporting background himself and it's nice just having that from him.
"Then my mum has been a coach in the league on the women's side for about 10 years now, she played herself and she is just a massive support. She's a bit of a voice of reason at times for me and a bit of a sounding board when I'm frustrated or whatever.
"She is a really cool head and offers a different perspective from anybody else. She's super supportive and comes to all my games too, and both my parents have had a huge impact on me and helping me to make the most of my opportunities. That's been the biggest one."