mocamagic
6 Nov 2011, 20:00
When future generations of Collingwood supporters read through the Copeland trophy honour roll they will see that Travis Cloke was the winner of the Copeland in 2007 and then 4 years later finished third in 2011. They would no doubt think he had the better year in 2007. What we know as current supporters is that the 2011 version had an infinitely better year as the dominant power forward in the game along the way breaking the "world record" for contested marks and kicking 69 goals (compared to 39 in 2007).
Whilst Cloke had a reasonable 2010, he was continually under scrutiny due to his unreliable kicking for goal. The drawn grand final saw a double miss on the stroke of half time which proved very costly and although he kicked the goal to put us back in front from point blank range he would have felt under some pressure going into the replay. He was unluckily denied a confidence boosting start due to an off the ball incident and had a fairly quiet game overall. The aftermath of the Grand Final saw Essendon make a big play for his services before he eventually signed on for another 2 years.
With Chris Dawes having a flying start to 2011 we suddenly had a pair of key forwards who were the envy of the competition. Cloke's kicking for goal was also significantly better aided by the use of earphones at training to simulate the crowd noise. 5 goals in round 2 against North equalled his PB and he would equal or better this several more times. The ANZAC day clash was on a knife edge early in the final term before Cloke stepped up with a 3 goal burst to silence the Bomber faithful. The Queen's birthday caning of Melbourne saw a 6 goal haul from Cloke who treated the demon defenders like rag dolls.
Our next game against Sydney saw possibly his best individual game with 6 goals 4 against the Swans and a sensational mark on the wing in the last minute as we clung to a 6 point lead. A further dozen marks and 3 goals against the Hawks the next week and suddenly Cloke was the form player and most dominant force in the comp. Against the Blues in round 17 in a vital game after the Heath Shaw suspension, Cloke had 3 goals early in the second term but a run of 4 successive behinds from then on prevented another sensational game. 3 goals 6 against Port in round 20 was another occasion where he did not capitalize fully and make an even stronger run at the Coleman medal. 5 goals against the Lions in round 22 and 4 the week after against Freo had Cloke nicely poised for the finals but a minor knee injury in the round 24 debacle against the cats just took the edge off him leading into the Eagles final.
Cloke had a quiet first final but stepped up in a big way when needed against the Hawks in the preliminary with 11 marks and 3 goals in a low scoring game. The grand final saw Cloke have 3 goals on the board early in the second term before having his influenced curbed. These goals included a couple of the longest goals seen in a grand final for many years.
Overall a huge year for Travis who unfortunately will place more pressure on our salary cap again when he comes out of contract at the end of 2012. When discussing his re-signing at the end of last year he referred to a desire to play under Bucks so we can hopefully look forward to another stellar year next season. Along with his obvious strengths as a big man, Cloke also has great endurance which allows him to get to so many contests, he has a fierce will to win, tackles well and has an excellent team ethic. I have also been very impressed with the way he handles himself in the media.
Whilst Cloke had a reasonable 2010, he was continually under scrutiny due to his unreliable kicking for goal. The drawn grand final saw a double miss on the stroke of half time which proved very costly and although he kicked the goal to put us back in front from point blank range he would have felt under some pressure going into the replay. He was unluckily denied a confidence boosting start due to an off the ball incident and had a fairly quiet game overall. The aftermath of the Grand Final saw Essendon make a big play for his services before he eventually signed on for another 2 years.
With Chris Dawes having a flying start to 2011 we suddenly had a pair of key forwards who were the envy of the competition. Cloke's kicking for goal was also significantly better aided by the use of earphones at training to simulate the crowd noise. 5 goals in round 2 against North equalled his PB and he would equal or better this several more times. The ANZAC day clash was on a knife edge early in the final term before Cloke stepped up with a 3 goal burst to silence the Bomber faithful. The Queen's birthday caning of Melbourne saw a 6 goal haul from Cloke who treated the demon defenders like rag dolls.
Our next game against Sydney saw possibly his best individual game with 6 goals 4 against the Swans and a sensational mark on the wing in the last minute as we clung to a 6 point lead. A further dozen marks and 3 goals against the Hawks the next week and suddenly Cloke was the form player and most dominant force in the comp. Against the Blues in round 17 in a vital game after the Heath Shaw suspension, Cloke had 3 goals early in the second term but a run of 4 successive behinds from then on prevented another sensational game. 3 goals 6 against Port in round 20 was another occasion where he did not capitalize fully and make an even stronger run at the Coleman medal. 5 goals against the Lions in round 22 and 4 the week after against Freo had Cloke nicely poised for the finals but a minor knee injury in the round 24 debacle against the cats just took the edge off him leading into the Eagles final.
Cloke had a quiet first final but stepped up in a big way when needed against the Hawks in the preliminary with 11 marks and 3 goals in a low scoring game. The grand final saw Cloke have 3 goals on the board early in the second term before having his influenced curbed. These goals included a couple of the longest goals seen in a grand final for many years.
Overall a huge year for Travis who unfortunately will place more pressure on our salary cap again when he comes out of contract at the end of 2012. When discussing his re-signing at the end of last year he referred to a desire to play under Bucks so we can hopefully look forward to another stellar year next season. Along with his obvious strengths as a big man, Cloke also has great endurance which allows him to get to so many contests, he has a fierce will to win, tackles well and has an excellent team ethic. I have also been very impressed with the way he handles himself in the media.