Clayworth, Aaron

BORN MARCH 21 1985, in Perth WA Australia, he developed as a defenseman in the local leagues and played for the Cockburn Hawks in the WA Super League. He first represented his country at 18 in the National Junior Team (U21) at the 2004 Junior Worlds in Sofia Bulgaria, winning Gold and promotion back to Division 2, and he returned for the 2005 Junior Worlds in Puigcerdà Spain.

Appointed Coach of the Cockburn Hawks Junior A team in 2006, the next season at 22 he joined the Canberra Knights in the AIHL where he remained for 6 seasons until 2012. He announced his retirement from the Knights for the 2013 season, but after a season off, and the formation of the CBR Brave, his interest was reignited and he became a foundation player and Alternate Captain with the Club (2014, ’15). “I was particularly excited to be coached by Matti Luoma”, he said. “He’s one of the most qualified coaches in the league”.

He produced an AIHL career total in defense of 190 games for 12 goals, 61 assists (0.38 points per game). He was also Assistant Coach of the Brave in 2015 and he twice competed in the AIHL playoffs for the Goodall Cup, but was defeated in the semi-finals by the Melbourne Ice in 2014 and Newcastle North Stars in 2015. He helped position the ACT closer to the Cup than any team up until then, since the Capital's first Goodall Cup Champions many years earlier in 1998.

During his AIHL career, he played an off-season of 34 games for FPS (Forssan Palloseura) based in Forssan jäähalli in Finland (2007-08), and won MVP of the ACT in the 2008 Brown Trophy (U23). He won Silver representing Australia in the National Senior Team at the Division 2 Worlds in Seoul, South Korea in 2007, and returned in 2008 at Newcastle, where Australia won Gold and promotion to Division 1 for the first time. He repeated the feat in 2011 in Melbourne and returned in the Division 1 line-up in 2012 for a total for his country of 28 games and 3 goals, 3 assists.