Born in Scone, New South Wales, Clydsdale played his junior rugby league for the Scone Thoroughbreds, before being signed by the Newcastle Knights. Clydsdale is the grandson of Australian international Don "Bandy" Adams.
In 2013, Clydsdale captained the Knights' NYC team. In Round 9 of the 2013 NRL season, he made his NRL debut for the Knights against the Canberra Raiders. On 10 May, he re-signed with the Knights on a 3-year contract after rejecting an offer from the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. He played in 2 matches for the Knights in the 2013 season.
2014
On 15 February and 16 February, Clydsdale played for the Knights in the inaugural NRL Auckland Nines. In Round 6 against the Canberra Raiders, he scored his first NRL try in the Knights' 26-12 win at Canberra Stadium. He finished off the 2014 season having played in 21 matches and scoring 2 tries.
2015
On 31 January and 1 February, Clydsdale played for the Knights in the 2015 NRL Auckland Nines. He finished off the 2015 season having played in 17 matches and scoring 2 tries. On 6 October, he signed a 2-year contract with the Canberra Raiders starting in 2016, after being told he was free to look elsewhere by incoming Knights coach Nathan Brown.
2016
After signing with the Canberra Raiders, Clydsdale played the first 19 rounds in reserve grade before an ankle injury to Canberra Raiders' interchange bench utility Kurt Baptiste saw Clydsdale make his debut for the club in their 26—22 win over the New Zealand Warriors in round 20. Clydesdale only playing 11 minutes in that match. He then played in rounds 21 and 22, playing 13 and 20 minutes respectively before dropping out of the round 23 team when Baptiste returned. In round 23, hooker Josh Hodgson was put on report for a dangerous tackle meaning he would miss a week. Clydsdale was recalled into the team starting at hooker. He played 27 minutes before Kurt Baptiste came on for the rest of the match. Clydsdale did not play another first grade match during 2016. Clydsdale was a member of the Mount Pritchard Mounties side which was defeated 21-20 by the Illawarra Cutters in the 2016 Intrust Super Premiership NSW Grand Final.
2017
After playing 11 games for the Raiders in 2017, Clydsdale was released from his contract to join the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks effective immediately until the end of the season. He played 2 NRL games for the Sharks in 2017. After the season ended, he signed a new 1-year contract to rejoin the Raiders in 2018, only to announce his retirement from the NRL in November 2017 to pursue a career with his family business.
2018
In 2018, Clydsdale joined the Maitland Pickers in the Newcastle Rugby League and in 2019 played for the Scone Thoroughbreds and won the man of the match award in the 40-6 win in the Group 21 Rugby League competition in the Grand Final.
2019
In 2019, Clydsdale played for the Scone Thoroughbreds and won the man of the match award in their 40-6 grand final win in the Group 21 Rugby League competition over the Aberdeen Tigers.
