Travis Cloke

[Angelus512]

Am I the only one who thinks Travis Cloke has to return to his 2007 finals form in order for us to put a win on the board against Geelong?

Whenever I saw Travis in good form NOBODY could go with the man for 4 quarters absolutely nobody. His tank is too strong and his hands are just unbelievable and thus far this season his kicking has been pretty good. Admittadly he hasn't had many scoring shots however.

In addittion we really need Medhurst to fire, Didak will naturally as will Leon but if Medhurst and Cloke can start kicking scores and Rocca can crash the packs and make a contest then we are a good show.

Plus will like to see Nathan Brown take Mooney and maybe give Marty Clarke a run on GAblett?

[shawthing09]

Yeh Trav is too important a player to us for him not to be firing. There is a few factors first is whilst we play the chip slow moving game we really need his hard work and good hands to get us out of trouble and give us someone to kick too. If he continues to struggle people have suggested giving him a run in the ruck, I would prefer to see him n Rocca Switch for periods of time and give him a run at FF.

[MarkT]

We are going at half rat power and we have Cloke and Pendlebury in up and down form, Thomas has been more down than up, Rocca after a good start has fallen in a hole and we’ve had our full back out all year. We have a fair bit of upside IF we can get it together and not get injuries. This week will be tough. We will be there in September. I doubt we have the class to challenge Geelong or Hawthorn but lots can happen to them as well.

We aren't the best side in the comp. but we are going to be playing in the month when the best side is decided.

[Brahma Bull]

Anyway, getting back to the topic- for Travis to find form and quick he should be played more up the ground and be more free. Like Daisy Thomas, he was pushed into the midfield region and centre square more and look how well he played.

[sirlothie]

Yeah all it takes is a Buddy Franklin shoulder or an Ablett/Bartel hamstring at the wrong time and all of a sudden the whole ballgame is wide open...

Just need to get some form and make sure we are there... :(

[Itsblackandwhite]

I agree...he should be made full forward..he has stronger hands...and i reckon will grab onto more than rocca..
All travis has got this year...is the ball just at the 50 metre arc..or further..at impossible angles...so he then does what he knows best...kick the ball as far as he can to a contest..
Rocca on the other hand will be able to get the long bombs..cos its all he seems to be good at atm...
We cant just waste a talent like travis and hope things will improve..
But that said...i cant wait for this game..have a really good feeling about it..

[SIDE BY SIDE]

We should let me run even if he starts 30m out from goals just let him use his running ability. Rocca needs to be close to goals with maybe a run up the ground once in a while but if Scarlett gets him we want him deep. If he can kick goals on Scarlett great but as long as he does what he did last week. Rocca didn't take many marks but contested and shot handballs out we it hit the ground. Just don't give us what he did in the prelim last year. Where we play Cloke may come down to Fraser too if he plays and cant play in the ruck as much then let Cloke go all over the ground. These three need to play well for us to win.

[sunnyTEE]

We need to play him into the game.

MM needs to get him to lead hard in the 1st quarter, in straight lines, and hopefully a few early grabs can get him going.

This year he just seems to be 2nd, 3rd option.

[Gaz_Brownlow]

Don't mean to be hypercritical, and don't get me wrong, Cloke certainly seems very promising and had a great game against the cats rnd 12 or something last year...but what has he actually done to warrant being the saviour of Collingwoods forward line? Whats his biggest bag, what are his big game stats (marks, kicks etc..), how many times has he been amongst the bests?

He just doesn't seem to me to be a consistent game changing player yet. Ill admit i don't tune into too many Collingwood games, but what i do see is Cloke playing very similar to Tarrant, in that he gets a lot of ball wide on the flanks and is just not influential enough (which could be a result of Micks game plan) when he is needed. He should be your central figure at all times as he seems to be (well amongst the collingwood faithful) your prized asset.

Personally, i think Geelong will allow him space if it means him running up the wings, through the corridor (which has been traditonally held be Rocca for you guys), we have Milburn and Harley floating off their direct opponents to assist Taylor and Scarlett, so am not overly concerened if the ball heads in that direction.

[Thommo 42]

Don't mean to be hypercritical, and don't get me wrong, Cloke certainly seems very promising and had a great game against the cats rnd 12 or something last year...but what has he actually done to warrant being the saviour of Collingwoods forward line? Whats his biggest bag, what are his big game stats (marks, kicks etc..), how many times has he been amongst the bests?

He just doesn't seem to me to be a consistent game changing player yet. Ill admit i don't tune into too many Collingwood games, but what i do see is Cloke playing very similar to Tarrant, in that he gets a lot of ball wide on the flanks and is just not influential enough (which could be a result of Micks game plan) when he is needed. He should be your central figure at all times as he seems to be (well amongst the collingwood faithful) your prized asset.

Personally, i think Geelong will allow him space if it means him running up the wings, through the corridor (which has been traditonally held be Rocca for you guys), we have Milburn and Harley floating off their direct opponents to assist Taylor and Scarlett, so am not overly concerened if the ball heads in that direction.
He had a better game against Geelong in the Prelim, was our best finals players last year and won the Copeland....

He towelled up Egan in Round 12 and towelled up Harley in the Prelim as soon as Milburn went off injured.

[shawthing09]

Don't mean to be hypercritical, and don't get me wrong, Cloke certainly seems very promising and had a great game against the cats rnd 12 or something last year...but what has he actually done to warrant being the saviour of Collingwoods forward line? Whats his biggest bag, what are his big game stats (marks, kicks etc..), how many times has he been amongst the bests?

He just doesn't seem to me to be a consistent game changing player yet. Ill admit i don't tune into too many Collingwood games, but what i do see is Cloke playing very similar to Tarrant, in that he gets a lot of ball wide on the flanks and is just not influential enough (which could be a result of Micks game plan) when he is needed. He should be your central figure at all times as he seems to be (well amongst the collingwood faithful) your prized asset.

Personally, i think Geelong will allow him space if it means him running up the wings, through the corridor (which has been traditonally held be Rocca for you guys), we have Milburn and Harley floating off their direct opponents to assist Taylor and Scarlett, so am not overly concerened if the ball heads in that direction.

Last year he woulda kicked a stack of bags had it not, been for his kicking. Can't remember the stats but there was a stat comparison with Cloke last year and a host of other star fowards, Riewoldt, Brown, Pav, Richo etc. in the same year of their career and his were very competitive

[hellfire]

Don't mean to be hypercritical, and don't get me wrong, Cloke certainly seems very promising and had a great game against the cats rnd 12 or something last year...but what has he actually done to warrant being the saviour of Collingwoods forward line? Whats his biggest bag, what are his big game stats (marks, kicks etc..), how many times has he been amongst the bests?

He just doesn't seem to me to be a consistent game changing player yet. Ill admit i don't tune into too many Collingwood games, but what i do see is Cloke playing very similar to Tarrant, in that he gets a lot of ball wide on the flanks and is just not influential enough (which could be a result of Micks game plan) when he is needed. He should be your central figure at all times as he seems to be (well amongst the collingwood faithful) your prized asset.

Personally, i think Geelong will allow him space if it means him running up the wings, through the corridor (which has been traditonally held be Rocca for you guys), we have Milburn and Harley floating off their direct opponents to assist Taylor and Scarlett, so am not overly concerened if the ball heads in that direction.

His best bag is only 5 I think. But that's typical for a CHF.

He won our B&F, that spells consistency.

He's had 8 games in the last 2 years (so about 33 games) over 10 marks, which is a pretty good effort IMO, he averages just over 7 (since he became our CHF, i.e. after Tarrant left), and regularly gets over 15 disposals (and given his long, penetrating left foot, they are valuable).

Given his age, they are great stats. To put it into perspective for you: Hawkins hasn't had over 10 marks once, and has only his 15 disposals twice.

NOTE: Yes, I know Cloke is more experienced and older. I'm just making the comparisons so you can see why we rate him so highly, given that he only became a key forward for us last year. So please don't take this as a knock on Hawkins or whatever. :thumbsu:

[Gaz_Brownlow]

He had a better game against Geelong in the Prelim, was our best finals players last year and won the Copeland....

He towelled up Egan in Round 12 and towelled up Harley in the Prelim as soon as Milburn went off injured.

Yeah i watched the Prelim too...he wasnt really that influential, and still got the majority of his kicks too wide for a player of his ability, the rnd 12 clash was far better and he did play very well.

However, i still think that he is not used correctly and his stats are somewhat inflated due to possessions Nick Riewoldt style up the ground. Is stupid comparing to Hawkins as they are too different players. Not suggesting he is not good, just he has not been able to rip up as many games as he should because of either Micks plan or his own style of play.

[hellfire]

Yeah i watched the Prelim too...he wasnt really that influential, and still got the majority of his kicks too wide for a player of his ability, the rnd 12 clash was far better and he did play very well.

However, i still think that he is not used correctly and his stats are somewhat inflated due to possessions Nick Riewoldt style up the ground. Is stupid comparing to Hawkins as they are too different players. Not suggesting he is not good, just he has not been able to rip up as many games as he should because of either Micks plan or his own style of play.

He is a CHF... what more is he meant to do? He is the link man, who gets the ball between 50-80m out. They aren't meant to kick bags every week. Anyway, I'm sure he'll start playing deeper when Rocca retires...

And yes, I know Hawkins is a different player.

[shawthing09]

Yeah i watched the Prelim too...he wasnt really that influential, and still got the majority of his kicks too wide for a player of his ability, the rnd 12 clash was far better and he did play very well.

However, i still think that he is not used correctly and his stats are somewhat inflated due to possessions Nick Riewoldt style up the ground. Is stupid comparing to Hawkins as they are too different players. Not suggesting he is not good, just he has not been able to rip up as many games as he should because of either Micks plan or his own style of play.

I think i know what your getting at and it's something I have wondered before. In terms of someone wih his size and hands would be of more influence on a game getting the ball deeper and being dangerous towards goal / kicking bags of goals.

The fact is whilst we play the slkow chip up the ground style of play we need a safe lead up target and hence we need Cloke playing a more old school traditional CHF game.

If we ever were able to move the ball quicker and by pass CHF regularly (although we haven't been using him as a 1st option this year for some reason.) then Cloke would be more value deep, that said his kicking would need to be much improved on last years (as it has been this year.)

[magpies42]

yeah i agree, any team without an in form CHF will be average at best.

Delivery must improve tho! hence my protest at rhyce passing them the ball

[shawthing09]

yeah i agree, any team without an in form CHF will be average at best.

Delivery must improve tho! hence my protest at rhyce passing them the ball

CHF in a purist fashion is almost extinct, more and more teams are running the ball through the center and delivering to a player like Brown,Pavlich, Franklin etc who play a roaming FF/Chf role. How many true CHF's are left in the game??????? Riewoldt would be one and Trav the other I can't see any other key CHF that plays in that 50-80 region link up type of role.

[BigPieSky]

Travis has been stuck in the same role for too long. I agree ! Push him out forward of the 50 lets see what options he can supply to the smaller forwards.

[rickyp]

of our 22, we need at least 22 to fire if we are to win, geelong will exploit any weakness...

[hellfire]

of our 22, we need at least 22 to fire if we are to win, geelong will exploit any weakness...

Yeah we need a 4 quarter effort from everyone this week. Cloke, Thomas, Lockyer, Maxwell and Rocca need to lift most based on recent form.

[The Dawes]

Travis didn't sem to attack the ball or the contest with any great confidence last week - I'd like to see him charge into it from the opening bounce on Fridee night and leave a few bodies in his wake.
He has the ability to be a highly physical player - which makes the Tarrant comparison a poor one - and to see him impose himself on the contest is something that can lift the side.
He tackles blokes strongly and can hurt them with his strength - if he starts from these basics he might find that his marking/kicking form will follow.

[Thommo 42]

He is one of the true CHF's and plays that role. They get more I50's than goals, purely because of where they get the footy.