Travis Cloke was never going to stay at Collingwood after season from hell, writes Jay Clark
TRAVIS Cloke felt his papers had been marked at Collingwood and now a fresh start and some new colours are exactly what he needs, writes Jay Clark.
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TRAVIS Cloke knew he couldn’t stay.
He was feeling frustrated and on the outer.
Cloke’s performances have been OK this season, he thought.
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Not amazing, but certainly not much different compared to the output of Collingwood’s other key forwards, Mason Cox, Jesse White and Darcy Moore, when the Pies were struggling early on.
So why then, Cloke has wondered, was he the one getting the chop time and again this season?
We have seen it all coming for months and on Tuesday the Herald Sun revealed the big man had officially told the club he did not want to be there next season.
It means two things.
Firstly, Cloke already knows he has options. Western Bulldogs, in particular, and Richmond would suit the goalkicker.
Cloke felt his cards, rightly or wrongly, had been marked.
And secondly, Collingwood doesn’t have a lot of trade leverage.
Really, a third or even fourth-round pick might have to do it.
The Dogs won’t offer much for a player who has kicked 17 goals from 13 games and was dropped three times this season.
And Collingwood knows it cannot afford to keep Cloke at the club against his will, for that would be a total disaster.
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley will be disappointed it has come to this after describing the prospect of trading Cloke earlier in the season as “laughable”.
More than anything, the Collingwood coaching staff have wanted Cloke to adapt this season.
They wanted Cloke to modify his performance and training to suit the changing trends in the game and physical requirements.
The ball wasn’t coming around the boundary line anymore, and, champion midfielder Chris Judd is adamant the big man needed to slim down by as much as 5kg.
No more body weights, Trav, Juddy said.
We assume Buckley has probably had the same idea about Cloke becoming a more mobile forward, but for whatever reason, the Cloke crinkle has existed all season.
His third axing was the last straw, getting dropped after taking nine marks in the loss to Richmond. That one cut deep.
It was clear to the 29-year-old that if he stayed at the Holden Centre for the final year of his contract next season that he was going to be a back-up.
Cloke felt his cards, rightly or wrongly, had been marked.
Cloke has loved the black and white all of his life, and on Sunday tugged emotionally at the top of his jumper, after kicking a clutch last-quarter goal.
It was a fitting sign-off to the Pies’ faithful, in a “thanks for everything” kind of way.
Now, just like Heath Shaw, Dayne Beams, Chris Dawes, Dale Thomas, Sharrod Wellingham and Heritier O’Brien, another Collingwood premiership player finds himself looking for a new home.
Shaw shows that there is life after Collingwood, with the GWS Giants gun defender set for his second All-Australian guernsey on Thursday night.
For Cloke, the fresh surrounds is exactly what he needs.
Dogs’ coach Luke Beveridge is a caring and loving sort of guy.
After Mitch Wallis broke his leg Beveridge almost teared-up in a press conference.
Michael Malthouse said Cloke “is a bloke who needs to be loved”.
“He (Cloke) has got to see that he is in demand at the football club … and (it will affect him) if at any moment he feels like he is just a sundry,” Malthouse said.
While the spotlight would follow Cloke intensely at Richmond, perhaps the kennel would appeal more strongly as a destination that’s slightly off broadway.
From what we know, Beveridge’s arms will be open.
TRAVIS CLOKE AT COLLINGWOOD
Drafted: Father-son selection, 39th overall, at the 2004 AFL draft
Debut: Anzac Day, 2005 against Essendon
Games: 246
Goals: 441
Honours: Copeland Trophy 2007
Premiership: 2010
Club leading goal-kicker: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
All Australian: 2011, 2013
Originally published as Travis Cloke was never going to stay at Collingwood after season from hell, writes Jay Clark
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