COLLINGWOOD’S Irish recruit Martin Clarke has been ruled out of the upcoming International Rules series due to an ankle injury.

The 20-year-old sprained his ankle in round 13 of the AFL season and has been playing with heavy strapping ever since. He joins compatriot Tadhg Kennelly on the Irish casualty list. Kennelly is unavailable due to shoulder and groin surgery.

“If I keep playing on it and I roll it again I could set myself back quite a bit so I just need to rest it for next season,” Clarke said.

“I would have loved to play because there are so many players I would have liked to have played with like Sean Cavanagh who has been appointed Irish captain. To see how those boys go against the best players in the Australian league will be pretty interesting.”

If available for the two test series, Clarke would have been playing against a team coached by his own Collingwood boss Mick Malthouse.

“He likes to study the opposition so it would have been interesting to see what he thought my flaws were and how he would have got players to play against me. It will be a great tactical battle because Sean Boylan is a great coach too and he is equally as successful. I just can’t wait to watch it.”

Clarke is confident the Irish team for this year’s series will be well up to the challenge.

“I’ve watched a lot of the All-Ireland series this year. It was a quality championship. The Irish boys are certainly skillful if they can just match the physical side of things it will be a lot closer than it’s been in the last couple of years.”

Clarke returns home to Ireland this Saturday and will spend 10 days in Stockholm and Oslo during his time off.

The rest of his time will be spent in his home in County Down until he is required to rejoin his teammates for altitude training on November 9 in Arizona.