Xavier Clarke wants players to show their support for Territory Thunder

A PASSIONATE Xavier Clarke has urged players to take ownership of the Territory Thunder program to get the club back into finals contention.

Xavier Clarke

A PASSIONATE Xavier Clarke has urged players to take ownership of the Territory Thunder program to get the club back into finals contention.

As revealed in the NT News yesterday, the former St Kilda and Brisbane Lions AFL star, 30, was confirmed as NT Thunder's new coach following Daniel Archer's resignation last month.

The NEAFL club has gone from back-to-back grand final appearances to their lowest-ever finish of seventh this year after losing a host of experienced players since their historic premiership triumph in 2011.

Clarke said his biggest challenge is to bring the famed "brotherhood" back to the fore as the club enters a new era as part of a reformed NEAFL competition.

"My priority is bringing that belief back into the NT Thunder program," he said. "It's not a program that you can come along and get a few free trips interstate to play against some good opposition.

"It's a program that will develop you as a better player and a person, and hopefully have that environment where there is a trust and a bond so strong that people want to be a part of it.

If you can build a culture, sometimes you don't really need to chase people, they come knocking on your door.

"My challenge is to get the players that have already signed on again next year to really believe that we are brothers when we go interstate, and when teams come to Darwin, we make it really hard for them to win, and have a little bit of ownership of the program."

Clarke was drafted from NTFL club St Marys to St Kilda with pick No. 5 in the 2001 National Draft.

He went on play 105 AFL games and represented the Indigenous All Stars in 2007. He was traded to Brisbane in 2009 where he managed one game in an injury-riddled three seasons.

During his time at the Lions, Clarke was an opposition analyst, as well as working in a number of development roles with their reserves team.

Most recently, the former NT Thunder under-18s representative was the head coach of this year's Footy Means Business program and toured Fiji and South Africa with the Flying Boomerangs in 2011 and 2012 as part of his role as the AFL's indigenous programs co-ordinator.

Clarke said the opportunity at NT Thunder was one he couldn't turn down and he hopes to secure the playing services of recently retired or delisted Territory AFL players - including his brother Raphael, Aaron and Alwyn Davey, Richard Tambling and Jared Brennan.

"I have been developing my coaching experience over the last couple of years in the AFL and I was waiting for that right opportunity," Clarke said.

"When I saw the Thunder job come up, I wasn't sure if I was ready to move back home, but after having a chat with a few people close to me, the more I thought it was going to be the right fit for me.

"It's a great opportunity to get to a footy club that I think is ready for success again.

"I'd be lying if I said we wouldn't love to have him (Raphael), and even the other Territory boys that have finished up in the AFL.

"If we can get a couple of those boys back to the club and playing, I think what it will do for the NT Thunder program will be absolutely massive and those are the conversations I look forward to having in the next couple of weeks.

"With the new re-structure of the NEAFL competition, the teams are going to be stronger than ever and no doubt we have to sign talented players, but ... I want to sign players that want to be a part of something that is pretty special and unique in terms of Territory football."

Clarke is recovering from his third knee reconstruction and said rejoining St Marys is "the furtherest thing" from his mind.