Collingwood forward Travis Cloke adjusts his marking technique to avoid free kicks

COLLINGWOOD forward Travis Cloke is learning to modify his marking technique with instruction from an AFL umpires' coach.

Cloke

COLLINGWOOD'S powerhouse forward Travis Cloke is learning to modify his technique in marking contests with instruction from an AFL umpires' coach.

The feedback followed Magpies assistance coach Matthew Lappin's approach to the umpires department this week with video clips of the contentious contested marks issue.

Coach Nathan Buckley said Cloke's strength and will to win the ball was part of the problem that caused him to concede four free kicks against Adelaide last Friday night.

"Maybe he wins his contest by too much and a little bit of that is Clokey's want to once he has a player out of position to continue to have that player out of position before coming back to the ball,'' Buckley said.

"We're working continually with Trav to get that right, but Matty Lappin, our forwards coach, has contacted the umpiring department and we've got a few tips and we'll work on them.''

Cloke, who kicked 2.5 in the win against the Crows, had goalkicking practice with head of development Craig McRae at training yesterday.

"Yeah, Trav had off night last week. When he has an off night, it's detrimental to our chances of winning, but if he's up and about, he's taking contested marks and it's on his boot, so to speak, it's a good problem to have,'' Buckley said.

Troubled backman Harry O'Brien, sidelined for the past two rounds with personal issue, won't return to the team for Saturday's game on the Gold Coast or the VFL team at Geelong tomorrow night.

"Along with the expert advice from the people he's working with and our doctors, we'll find the right time for him. It's not really a time frame issue, it's just when our players are right to play,'' Buckley said.

"It's easy if you're got a calf (injury) or a hamstring, but there are other issues that you need to get right to be ready to play four quarters of intense football. The ups and downs and the resilience required, so we're supporting Harry through the period at the moment and respect the fact that football might not be the thing he needs to be doing right now.''

O'Brien was one of the most energetic performers in the match practice drills at Olympic Park yesterday and there's no issue with his fitness.

"All you ever see is the facade, to be honest. We deal with a lot of things internally that don't come out and shouldn't come out. This has and you would be none the wiser otherwise. Players all through the league deal with issues. They're humans, they're not robots, they're more than footballers and we treat them as such and that's important to consider in this circumstance,'' Buckley said.

Best and fairest winner Dayne Beams has pulled up well after his first AFL game, but he will continue on a cautious program to protect the repaired quad muscle.

"When the game was on the line he stood up again. A couple of assists, contested ball and important clearances and he has run the game out strongly off the back of some solid training form before he was released to play. He's a very strong player, good ball winner and he adds to our mix and makes us better when he's up and about,'' Buckley said.

"We're very conscious that he hasn't had a lot of footy and we want to manage that as much as we can. We like to think we can manage that with the quality of our football efficiency as much as anything.''

Quinten Lynch (back) and Alan Didak (calf) trained strongly and they will start back with the VFL team against the Cats at Simonds Stadium.