An opportunity to join a club with a winning culture was one too good for Dylan Clark to pass up.
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The former Wyong Roos second-rower, lock forward or hooker has joined the Port Macquarie Sharks ahead of the 2021 Group 3 rugby league season.
After securing a job as a teacher at a local high school, Clark was quickly informed the Sharks were the club he needed to play for.
"The deputy at my school is pretty heavily involved in the footy up here and told me the Sharks were the club to go to," he said.
"I know they're a pretty successful club and last won the competition in 2018, so they've got a good culture and I can see that at training with the boys.
"It's pretty similar to Wyong back at home so I wanted to be a part of that."
Clark hopes his experience in the Newcastle Rugby League with the Roos will be a key ingredient for the Sharks as they aim to climb the ladder.
After appearing in three grand finals in four years between 2015 and 2018, the Sharks missed the finals in 2019 before the 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID-19.
"I know they're a pretty successful club and last won the competition in 2018, so they've got a good culture and I can see that at training with the boys."
- New Port Macquarie Sharks' signing Dylan Clark
But encouragingly, the club has rarely gone longer than five years between premiership successes.
"They have a winning culture here which is something I want to be a part of and Group 3 is a pretty decent competition so I'm excited to find out what it's about."
After securing a full-time role at Camden Haven High School, Clark admitted he hoped to hang around the Sharks for a few seasons.
"Hopefully I'll be here for a while," he said.
Clark felt his knowledge gained from playing in the Newcastle Rugby League along with being involved in some of the highly fancied systems down south would be beneficial.
The 23-year-old played under-23s for the Central Coast Roosters last year and has been involved in the Koori Knockout for a couple of years playing with the Central Coast.
"Hopefully I can bring a bit of energy and excitement coming into the team as well," he said.
"I found my game developed a bit better last year because we were probably one of the only comps running and obviously as a club the ultimate goal is to win the premiership."
Clark won't have to wait long to experience his first Port Macquarie derby with the Sharks to tackle Port City in the opening round of the competition on April 10.
"I heard there's a pretty big grudge match there so it should be interesting," he said.
Port Macquarie have secured three trial fixtures before their season opener.
They will head to Coffs Harbour this weekend, followed by a trek to Gunnedah in two weeks before a home clash with Cudgen Headland on March 27 wraps up their pre-season.
Sharks squad to face Coffs Harbour: 1.Mitch Wilbow 2.Cuban Piper 3.Ollie Nosworthy 4.Ronald Sines 5.Dylan Adams 6.Brayden Reid 7.Keiran Gallagher 8.Matt Jones 9.James Kelly (c) 10.Kurt Molony 11.Harry Hanley 12.Dylan Clark 13.Scott Grant 14.Pat Lulham 15. Koby Smith 16.Pomare Ormsby 17.Hunter Clayworth 18.Slayde Long 19.Joey Lewis 20.Ben Read
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