This week those same teammates will be consoling Clarke as his football hopes for 2011 received a serious setback when his right knee was injured at training on Tuesday.
At 6.21pm on Wednesday when the Lions sent through the bad news that the utility would face his second knee reconstruction in three years, the shoulders of seasoned football-watchers sagged. Even armed with the perspective the past fortnight of floods has brought, in football terms Clarke’s injury is devastating.
But there is still hope. There is a chance the LARS technique may be used to fix Clarke's knee but no-one will know whether that option - which cuts recovery time significantly - will be available until the doctors performing the surgery get to look at Clarke's right knee on the operating table sometime on Thursday.
So Clarke is not gone yet. He is still only 27. The Lions know his qualities as a person. Whether the LARS technique is employed or full reconstruction surgery is required the immediate future is the only concern at the moment for both player and club.
His talent is undeniable.
The No.5 selection in the super draft of 2001 arrived from St Mary's Northern Territory and shot on to centre stage with 57 games in his first three seasons with St Kilda.
He had made his debut in round three of his first season, and had earned a rising star nomination by round seven.
In just his second season at the club he finished ninth in the club best and fairest in a top 10 that included Lenny Hayes, Robert Harvey and Nick Riewoldt. He was just 20.
When Saints champion Nathan Burke retired in 2003 he handed over his No.3 to the promising young star - a sign of the esteem in which he was held.
Burke knew the recipient was not only talented on the football field but was doing significant work off it, developing Unity Foundation, an organisation set up to assist children to develop life skills and build self-confidence.
Clarke's involvement in such off-field activities points to a person who understands the importance of resilience. It is a characteristic he has unfortunately had to prove time and time again as injuries continue to cut him down.
Since 2005 he has played 49 games in six seasons (as a comparison, the Swans' Adam Goodes has played 141 games in the same period).
In 2005 he suffered four hamstring injuries. In 2009 he underwent his first knee reconstruction after his left leg gave way.
In 2010, after being part of two pre-season premiership sides at the Saints (in 2004 and 2008) but no longer in their premiership plans, he made his way to the Brisbane Lions, part of a contingent of players his coach Michael Voss was prepared to offer a second chance.
Voss's recruiting has been questioned but he must have followed a black cat under a ladder to have to endure such poor fortune in relation to injuries to key players in the past 12 months.
Voss has had his critics for his 'top-up' plan, but who could foresee the following:
• Brendan Fevola, four games fully fit, played 17
• Andrew Raines 10 games
• Amon Buchanan broke thumb round one, 12 games
• Josh Drummond, ACL, played seven games
• Jed Adcock, nine games
• Jamie Charman, ankle problem, missed the season
• Jonathan Brown, abdomen hampered him, played 16 games.
Clarke's bad luck followed him north to Queensland with just one half of a senior game completed before the hamstring went again in round 18.
However the near completion of a full pre-season before Christmas had him and the club full of hope as the team resumed training in January.
Now Clarke returns to square one and will need every bit of his renowned resilience to return to the top level. He’s the type of person many will back in to do just that.
Even today he was at the club, acknowledging his disappointment to anyone enquiring, but hiding with a smile what must be racing through his brain.
While not common to AFL footy, there have been many who have suffered similarly. Former Collingwood player Lee Walker knows the crushing feeling that Clarke would have felt.
Walker endured four knee reconstructions before giving the game away after just 16 games with Collingwood (from 1997-1999), after being drafted by the West Coast Eagles at No.19 in the 1992 draft, then traded to Collingwood in 1994 and re-drafted by the Magpies in 1998.
Now, at the age of 37, Walker has a physical job with Perth's Fire and Rescue Service, enjoys surfing and looks back on his misfortune without rancour.
"Footy clubs - regardless of whether an amateur club or an AFL club - are great places to be," said Walker.
"There are so many awesome people at them who help to get you through it."
He explained that keeping everything in perspective was critical when a player found himself in such circumstances.
"You have to keep a good balance on it," he says.
However he does not make light of the disappointment he felt at the time in any way.
"You do feel like the world is caving in on you. I suppose when you are blessed with half a chance to play the game you love and then have it ripped away from you…"
Walker says although much of his footy career was spent in rehab there is not a moment of the journey he regrets. That his career panned out as it did was no fault of his own.
For Clarke, it's a mix of surgery and hope, and perhaps a three-year window.
After the inevitable sense of 'why me?' passes and the operation is completed, Clarke will face several decisions.
Plenty, including Walker, will be wishing the talented utility the best of luck.
