Travis Cloke says leaving Collingwood was the hardest decision he’s ever had to make
UPDATE: COLLINGWOOD premiership player Mick McGuane has blasted Travis Cloke for requesting a trade rather fighting for his spot in the Magpies’ best 22.
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COLLINGWOOD premiership player Mick McGuane has blasted Travis Cloke for requesting a trade rather fighting for his spot in the Magpies’ best 22 and honouring the final year of his contract.
Cloke signed a five-year deal at the end of 2012 but after a poor season that saw him dropped three times, has requested the club release him from the final year of that deal.
McGuane says Cloke should be staying at Collingwood and attempt to get back to his best form. the form that saw the Magpies sign him to a long-term deal.
“Do you think form or permanent, or do you think form is temporary?,” McGuane said on RSN.
“I get disappointed at this time of year when a player signs a contract, then opts out of it. Sometimes you’ve just got to fight the fight.
“When you sign the five-year deal or four-year deal or six-year deal, whatever you sign, and your form doesn’t warrant to serve that contract why sign it in the first place?
“I just get a little bit confused.
“I’m just one of those old school guys that says if you’re happy to get the cake put in front of you and here’s a five-year deal, irrespective of what happens in the latter part of your contract, I like seeing players serve out that contract and you fight the fight to a point.
“If you’re entering a stage of your footy life where you might be 29 or 30 (years old) and your form does taper, you’ve got to find a way to get back to the form that you probably signed your contract on.”
The 1990 premiership star questioned whether the role Cloke had been asked to play by coach Nathan Buckley this year was one suited to the strengths of the power forward.
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“What’s Travis’s role in the team? I don’t know the answer to that. (But) I see him as a key forward who, the ball should be channelled through him,” McGuane said.
“Is he asked to be played that role? Does he not get to the right spot to actually be part of the contest?”
Cloke last night nominated the Western Bulldogs as his preferred club for next season but some have questioned whether the 29-year-old is best suited to Whitten Oval.
The All-Australian will slot into a forward line alongside star Jake Stringer, the returning Stewart Crameri and big man Tom Boyd.
Bucks is a great fellow ... I just didn’t fit into the game structure or the game set up.
Travis Cloke 
Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has already demonstrated he has no issue making a statement at selection by axing big names who are out of form after dropping Stringer for the final two games of the home-and-away season and on the eve of finals.
“What happens in 12 months time if Travis gets dropped by the Western Bulldogs? Do we revisit this discussion?,” McGuane questioned.
Cloke conceded last night he had no choice but to look elsewhere to restart his stalled AFL career.
He admitted the decision to walk away from the last year of his contract at Collingwood was one of the hardest of his life, Cloke said recent discussions with coach Nathan Buckley made him realise a move was the only way to move forward.
And the 29-year-old dual All-Australian is adamant he can return to the form that once saw him as one of the league’s best power forwards, saying he plans to speak with St Kilda veteran Nick Riewoldt about how he can prolong his career.
“I am a pretty loyal person and that was probably the hardest thing to remove myself from that 2017 contract,” Cloke told The Footy Show on Thursday night.
“Obviously I had conversations with Bucks, and I guess it just wasn’t going to work out for the both of us. I didn’t want to be playing VFL football and they can’t guarantee you can be playing senior footy all the time, depending on form, the body, what the club is doing and where it is going.”
Cloke, who has played 246 games and kicked 441 goals with Collingwood since his 2005 debut, was dropped to the VFL on three occasions this season.
He admitted that the third time it happened, he realised he was going to have to move clubs.
“That hurt a lot,” he said.
Cloke maintained he would always remain friends with Buckley, but acknowledged that their relationship as player and coach had “ups and downs”.
“Bucks is a great fellow ... I just didn’t fit into the game structure or the game set up for the Collingwood Football Club in the end,” he said.
“It is disappointing. It was a hard decision to make, but at the same time, it was a good decision for all involved.”
Cloke said the Western Bulldogs had been in discussion with his management, and he was excited by the way they played, and how they intended to play him, if a suitable deal can be arranged.
“I guess I have enjoyed watching their footy over the last two years to see how ‘Bevo’ (Luke Beveridge) has changed their whole football club around,” he said.
“If that’s where I do end up ... I feel like I could help to improve their side and hopefully they can get the best out of me.
“I still believe I have plenty of good football left in me.”
Cloke said his former coach Mick Malthouse and Buckley were “polar opposites” in coaching styles.
“I owe everything to Mick,” he said. “I really loved playing under him. I understood the way he went about it.”
“He is very different to Bucks. They are polar opposites in their coaching, but at the same time they both understood what they wanted to do, and both are strong-minded individuals.”
Originally published as Travis Cloke says leaving Collingwood was the hardest decision he’s ever had to make
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