Travis Cloke has agreed to a two-year deal with Western Bulldogs, now a trade needs to be secured

UPDATE: Premiership coach Robert Walls says he can’t understand why the Bulldogs want Travis Cloke as Collingwood finalises details of a trade.

UPDATE: Premiership coach Robert Walls says he can’t understand why the Bulldogs want Travis Cloke as Collingwood finalises details of a trade.

The Bulldogs need only to satisfy Collingwood’s trade request to build a 2017 forward line that includes Cloke, Stewart Crameri and Tom Boyd.

It is understood the Dogs have agreed on terms with Cloke, who will sign a two-year deal on greatly reduced terms from his 2017 deal with the Pies.

The Herald Sun revealed last week Cloke was prepared to void the final year of that contract, worth between $450,000-$500,000.

That will allow him to broker a new deal with the Western Bulldogs, who despite their brilliant win against West Coast still played eight-gamer Zaine Cordy in a defensive forward role.

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In return the Pies will not have to haggle over paying a slice of his salary to get him off their books as they attempt to recruit players including Will Hoskin-Elliott, Chris Mayne, Daniel Wells and Ivan Maric.

But Walls, who coached four clubs from 1981-97 including Carlton’s 1987 premiership team, says he is baffled by the Bulldogs’ interest in Cloke.

“I’m really surprised that the Bulldogs would want him,” he said on SEN on Friday.

“I think Travis’s days as an AFL player are over.

“The last three years he’s really struggled, I don’t think he has the mobility and agility to play as a forward. He’s strictly a lead-at-the-ball, take a mark and then you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Walls dismissed the possibility the Bulldogs were recruiting Cloke as insurance.

“The problem is if you get him, you then feel obligated to play him, and that means there’s another Bulldogs player not getting a game.

“With (Tom) Boyd, Jordan Roughead, Stewart Crameri coming back into the team, Jack Redpath will eventually get back after his injury — I just don’t think there’s a need for him.

“But I wouldn’t fault Luke Beveridge’s decision-making because he’s proven himself to be pretty accurate with what he’s done with the Dogs over the last couple of years.”

Walls had simple advice for the Magpies when negotiating a deal for Cloke: “If they can get anything for him, just grab it.”

Travis Cloke looks like being a Bulldog in 2017. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

A two-year deal with the Dogs on less than $300,000 a season would earn him fractionally more than staying for a single season at the Pies.

But crucially it will allow him to reignite his career.

The Western Bulldogs do not have a third-round selection to trade for Travis Cloke so the Pies could consider a second-tier player or attempt to push a harder bargain. Midfielders Koby Stevens and Nathan Hrovat are both out of contract.

Lin Jong has been offered a three-year deal at Gold Coast so seems unlikely to be a cog in the Cloke-Pies trade.

TRADE REQUEST: CLOKE TO VOID PIES CONTRACT, PLAY FOR LESS AT NEW CLUB

Crameri returned to the Dogs on Thursday after an ASADA ban but is an aerobic beast who can play up the ground and in multiple roles.

Jack Redpath will miss most of the season with a knee reconstruction and Boyd played well in last week’s final in a 50-50 ruck/forward role.

The Dogs draft order will change slightly depending upon the club’s finals finish but if they finished sixth their selections would be 13, 31, 59, 67 and 85.