Brothers Jason Cloke and Cameron Cloke headed to Essendon District Football League club Craigieburn for 2015

CRAIGIEBURN has pulled off the recruiting coup of the off-season so far in the Essendon District Football League, securing two former Collingwood players for 2015.

Collingwood v Western Bulldogs. MCG. Cameron Cloke and Chris Grant.

CRAIGIEBURN has pulled off the recruiting coup of the off-season so far in the Essendon District Football League, securing two of the most powerful forwards playing local footy in Melbourne.

Brothers Cameron and Jason Cloke will join the Eagles’ nest next season after signing on with the club last night.

Cameron — who played 58 AFL games with Collingwood, Carlton and Port Adelaide — joins the club from Northern Football League powerhouse Bundoora where he has been one of the league’s biggest stars in recent years.

Older brother Jason — who played 76 AFL games with Collingwood — joins from Western Region Football League Division 1 runners-up Spotswood where he kicked 76 goals this year.

Craigieburn assistant coach Robert Fletcher said the Eagles expected the pair to prove a powerful combination in the forward line next season.

“They wanted to play footy together over the next two or three years before they give it away,” he said.

“So they’ve come to play at Craigieburn.

“They’re both about 196, 198cm and about 115kg. So it will be pretty hard to stop two of them down there.”

Fletcher confirmed that most of the club’s core playing group from this year had already signed on for next season, the club with a clear goal to return to the EDFL’s Premier Division in the near future despite winning just three games during its 2014 campaign.

“We’ve picked up three others and there’s a few more in the pipeline as well,” Fletcher said.

“It was very disappointing this year finishing second-last and we were lucky to stay up. But we want to give it a fair crack and go and get some players and hopefully be in Premier league the following year.”

Bundoora coach Phil Plunkett said Cloke would be difficult to replace.

“(We’re) very disappointed to lose by far one of the best players in the competition,” Plunkett said.

“As a coach he’s probably one of the boys that has had the biggest presence on the ground that I’ve ever been involved with.

“To lose him is a massive, massive hole, it wasn’t the best phone call that I’ve had.”

He said the loss of Cloke — and likely departure of skipper Brayden Shaw — signalled the start of a new era for the NFL club.

“We’ve had the Trevor Robinson era, now we’ve had the Cam Cloke-Brayden Shaw era and now we’ve got this exciting time to have a fresh start,” he said.

“We’re fairly excited about the whole prospect.”