It restricted the sublimely-skilled player to just eight games last year, but rather than curse his rotten luck, Clarke went back to the drawing board during the break and is looking to challenge a few perceptions in 2009.
"I've got a point to prove injury-wise having not played a full season for a long time," Clarke says. "I've been doing everything I can to prevent those injuries happening again. We had a look at my whole program last year and what I did do and what I didn't do.
"I did a lot of things right, but there's probably always that one or two per cent of things that you can do a bit better like doing things away from the club a bit better, getting a bit more massage, a bit more walking in the water and physio and stuff like that. It's that one or two per cent that I hope is going to make a difference this year.
"I really want to seal a spot in the side this season. I've probably been a player that's known to not really have a permanent spot. I've played a bit of forward, a bit of midfield, a bit off the bench and a bit down back.
"Hopefully I can have a permanent spot this year and make it my own."
And while Clarke is clear in his own mind where that spot is – providing run and carry from half-back – he knows he faces plenty of stiff competition for it.
"I played that position two or three years ago and I played my best footy there," he says.
"But the game has changed a lot since then and we're doing a lot of things different to what we did even last year, so it's just about putting the right players in the right places.
"It's up to the coach, but if you play there you can seal your spot and I'm looking forward to doing that in the NAB Cup."
Clarke credits the extra services made available to the players in the past year in the medical and rehabilitation areas as key in helping him along the path to peak fitness.
He's hopeful the spending on such services will help both he and his brother Raphael to spend a lot more time on the playing field instead of the medical rooms this season.
The 25-year-old concedes his injury history coupled with the expectation that accompanies being a high draft pick – he was taken fifth overall in the 2001 NAB AFL Draft – has brought pressure to bear on him.
"We love our supporters. They're fantastic and we wouldn't be here as a footy club without them," he says.
"They have the right to criticise or whatever, but … that pressure doesn't really get to me or Raph. We just try and do the best we can for the club.
"It's a hard thing playing footy – it's not easy as everyone thinks – but we're here training every day. If we have a bad game we know we've had it and we've got to deal with that ourselves, get on with it and look forward to the week after."
A slight calf strain has kept Clarke out of the competitive skills sessions in the past fortnight, but it has not dimmed his enthusiasm for the task that lays ahead of him in what he admits will be an important year for him.
"I've done pretty much all the running, but I've been held back with the skills a little bit. Next week I'll be back in full skills and I really feel like I'm running on top of the ground and ready to go," he says.
"I just want to get myself right and do what I have to do to play for the team. Hopefully I can play a bit down back in that running half-back role, but in saying that I'm happy to go up forward or in the midfield as well and I've worked hard on my fitness to do that."
