Young gun jets back to Cairns

AT times it was far from enjoyable for an 18-year-old raw goalkeeping talent, but Pierce Clark wouldn’t be the highly rated goalkeeper he is today without a regimented ALeague training program.

The Cairns FC recruit, who left the Far North as a nineyear-old, is back in the hope his time at the Newcastle Jets under now-Melbourne City goalkeeping coach Jess van Stratten does not go to waste.

“He was the hardest goalkeeper coach I’ve had, very intense, and if you made a mistake he was up you and that really helped me a lot,” the former Stratford junior said.

“At the time I didn’t really appreciate it as much, but looking back on it now, when I did leave Newcastle I was in a lot better position.

“When I went to Newcastle and started training with Jess, I had, from what he said, a lot of raw ability – athletics and stuff like that – but not much in the way of technique.

“He was very regimented, every day coming in and doing the right things and getting into good habits. I’d never had that level of expectation in training sessions, but when I started doing it day in and day out, he was the driving force.

“That’s what I took out of it, the level of focus it takes to be a top-level goalkeeper.”

Clark, now 20, said he saw a move to Cairns as a chance to settle after so many footballrelated moves in the past three years and most importantly, a chance to grab an NPL opportunity and ultimately put his name up in lights for an ALeague return.

“I’ve been moving around pretty much since school finished – went to Newcastle Jets for two seasons nearly and learnt a lot from that and then I didn’t think I was going to get any game time, so I thought I’d have a crack interstate,” he said.

“I went to Bentleigh Greens for the first half of this season and unfortunately I wasn’t playing. I loved every minute of it at Bentleigh ... but I just thought for me, right now, I really need game time and when I got in touch with Danny (Graystone, Cairns FC coach), that was pretty much the key part of the conversation.

“Cairns ticks a lot of boxes. Obviously I’ve got a lot of family here.

“I’ve played in the NPL before and always knew Cairns was up there in and around the top half of the competition, and to come and play for a quality team and a quality setup is also good.”

Clark said he was prepared to fight for his place among a strong trio of goalkeepers. He is set to debut tonight against Sunshine Coast alongside fellow recruit Gianni Allebi.