Firehouse Subs Jacksonville Axemen Past Player Update: Casey Clark

After his 2011 season with the Jacksonville Axemen, Casey Clark traveled to Australia to play rugby league for the Helensburgh Tigers. Casey was familiar with Helensburgh after playing against them in the 2011 Atlantic Cup, as well as being the home team for Axemen imports Shaun Murray and Brent Shorten. Casey worked his way onto the reserve grade team for the Tigers, which is just one level under the first grade team, the highest in the very difficult Illawarra Regional Competition.  “1st grade is extremely competitive, and many people consider it the best regional competition in Australia” says Casey. “Most of the things I learned and that I focused on were in game techniques. We had a lot of great, knowledgeable people involved with the team. People like one of the former assistant coaches for the Dragons and people that worked with the Dragons. Plus a lot of former NRL players in the 1st grade team, so it was really helpful learning and improving on tackling, field position, body position, and awareness.” Casey and the Helensburgh Tigers ended up winning the Grand Final for the second grade team. This past fall Casey returned to the US and his roots in Rugby Union by traveling to Canada with the USA Rugby Select XV’s to play in The ARC tournament and plans to continue his career playing Rugby Union in the USA.