Cameron Cloke won’t play again this season after second concussion

One of the Northern Football League’s modern greats might never play again. A second concussion will sideline Cameron Cloke indefinitely.

Cameron Cloke runs out for his 250th and ultimately last senior game. Picture: Nathan McNeill

Cameron Cloke’s season is over and potentially his career after a serious concussion on Saturday.

The Hurstbridge star was knocked out in the second quarter of the Bridges’ thrilling win over former club Bundoora and Cloke’s 250th senior suburban match.

It’s his second head knock of NFL Division 1 season, he missed two matches after the Round 1 loss to Heidelberg.

Cloke confirmed he will be sitting out indefinitely but wasn’t officially retiring.

“I don’t like that word (retirement) … if I play again, I don’t know,” he said.

“I’ve had two serious concussions this year so I won’t play again this year. I’ll focus on coaching and focus on my kids.

“I was pretty chuffed with the weekend against my old club, I have a lot of respect for Bundoora, if it is my last game so be it.

“I can’t have my kids – I’ve got a two-year-old, a four-year-old and a nine-year-old step son – and I can’t have them see me the way I was on the weekend.”

“We had an agreement if it happened again that would be it and that’s why I didn’t want to come off the ground.

“I knew straight away that that was probably going to be my last game, it was an emotional day but it was a really enjoyable day as well because we were able to get a great win.”

Cloke will go down as one of the Northern Football League’s modern day greats.

After 58 AFL games with Collingwood, Carlton and Port Adelaide he signed with Bundoora in 2011.

He won two premierships with the Bulls and completed an awards clean sweep in 2013, winning the Rosbrook Medal as the Division 1 best-and-fairest and kicked 81 goals to claim the league goalkicking award.

Cameron Cloke during his time at Bundoora.

He was also named in the Team of the Year in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

After stints with Craigieburn and Jacana in the Essendon District league he returned to the NFL with Hurstbridge in 2018.

In 11 seasons in local footy he played in seven grand finals.

He rated the 2013 season as his most memorable and the famous Division 1 decider against Montmorency as his all-time highlight.

“It was a bit surprising actually, I kicked 98 goals, won the goalkicking at the club and comp, comp medal and club best-and-fairest,” he said.

“It was probably my most memorable year and that grand final in 2011 was unbelievable … I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life.

“A lot of people know about the grand final against Monty, coming back from six goals to win by six goals in one quarter.

“I’ve been lucky enough to play a lot of one-off games and in Darwin and I tell people the Northern Football League is the best competition I’ve played in.”

Cameron and Travis Cloke playing together at Hurstbridge in 2018.

It’s a bitter blow to Hurstbridge’s finals hopes having lost fellow league great and all-time games record holder Daniel Keenan to an Achilles injury in the pre-season.

Cloke will continue in his role as assistant coach and believes his young teammates can achieve something special.

“Hopefully the boys can back it up and get two (wins) in a row,” he said.

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“The club isn’t known for backing up wins, so to get two in a row – we’ve got a good patch in the next three or four weeks – this young group could be looking at playing finals.

“That’s how close the competition is, Greensborough and West Preston are hard to come up against, but other than that the last three (finals) spots are wide open.

“I’ll have the itch, I’m not a very good spectator but I enjoy coaching and I’m really excited to see what Joel Naylor, BJ Jordan and Nick Milne can do.”

Pending the state’s COVID situation, Hurstbridge travels to Whittlesea this Saturday.