FREMANTLE development coach Steve Malaxos got a chance to measure Zac Clarke against one of his contemporaries at the weekend, and the young ruckman passed with flying colours.

Opposed to West Coast's rookie-listed ruckman, Will Sullivan, Clarke had 12 possessions and 24 hit-outs to continue his impressive development year.

Malaxos said comparing young ruckmen was a good way to gauge their development with the position remaining the most "one-on-one and combative" role on the ground.

"It's a check for us as to how his development's gone," Malaxos said. "It showed earlier in the year when he played on (Nic) Naitanui – we thought Clarkey did pretty well.

"This week he'll be up against (Mark) Seaby and Seaby's played a reasonable amount of AFL footy in the ruck, so we can get a gauge how far Zac is off that level.

"Ruck remains probably the most one-on-one contest on the whole field. So if he's up against (Brendon) Lade or (Dean) Brogan from Port Adelaide, he'll be up against them for the whole game.

"In most other positions they might come across a younger bloke during the course of the game."

Clarke hasn't racked up big numbers in the WAFL this season – averaging 12 disposals and 16 hit-outs from his 10 matches – but Malaxos said when he's had the ball he has generally been creative and effective.

He said Clarke's five AFL games this season were crucial in his development.

"That was very important. It gives him an understanding now of what he needs to work on, what his strengths are, and it gives him rapid improvement," Malaxos said.

Malaxos added he had been most impressed with Clarke's athletic ability and his willingness to take on any challenge on his fist season with the club.

"Really he's been the No. 1 ruckman for East Perth and last year he was just a speculative pick in the under-18s," Malaxos said. "When he's played for us he's accepted that challenge as well."

Meanwhile, Casey Sibosado, Chris Hall and Ben Bucovaz have played their last games for 2009.

The club will continue to take a cautious approach with their groin injuries, ruling them out for the remainder of the WAFL season. 

Ahead of Thursday's selection Malaxos shared his WAFL notes with fremantlefc.com.au.

Perth 8.10 (58) lost to East Perth 28.5 (173)
Zac Clarke
Played quite well at East Perth. He shared the hit-outs with opponent Will Sullivan, but he did a bit more around the ground, finishing with 12 possessions and a goal, so we thought he won the match-up.

Hamish Shepheard
He'd been a bit crook during the week, but pleasingly he got himself up to play and he finished with 12 possessions and a goal. He was going reasonably well, but he suffered a cramp midway through the third quarter almost as a result of being ill through the week. What he did for East Perth was quite good before that.

Subiaco 14.18 (102) d Swan Districts 13.10 (88)
Michael Walters
Started well onball and on the wing. He had some good inside 50s but he fell out of the game after half time. He spent some time forward and couldn't get into it. The overall picture was of quite a good game, but that was mainly in the first quarter and a half. That hasn't been a consistent pattern, so it's not a fitness issue.

Luke Pratt
Steady in defence on Trent Dennis-Lane, who kicked a couple of goals. So defensively he was quite good, but not as much attack and rebound as we would like for Swans. That's the big area for him to work on in the final rounds.

South Fremantle 9.20 (74) d West Perth 10.7 (67)
Daniel Gilmore
Played a reasonably good game on the wing, finishing with 26 possessions, six tackles and seven inside 50s – a typical sort of 'Gilly' game in the WAFL. He ran strongly and linked the play up quite well. His disposal was reasonably good, without being great.

Josh Head
Played on Brent LeCras and did reasonably good. He also won South Fremantle's 'one per center' award for spoils, blocks, tackles and smothers etc. A bit of an improvement from the week before, where he was a bit down.

Scott Thornton
Started forward but he was struggling a bit so they switched him back. Then he got a cork in the backside, which slowed him down a fair bit. He finished with 10 touches and only had an average game.

Adam Campbell
Started well and took some good marks, but he faded after that. He needs to find a more consistent work rate, sustain the volume of his leads and find some more second efforts. That's the challenge for Adam in the last three weeks.

East Fremantle 19.10 (124) d Claremont 14.9 (93)
No Fremantle players

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.