Travis Cloke - Herald Sun

[DWil6]

A positive story from Sheahan....

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,22093274%5E20322,00.html

Move over Rocca, Cloke on rise
18 July 2007 AFL
Mike Sheahan
A SUBTLE shift is taking place at Collingwood, a changing of the guard, as Mike Sheahan writes.

New focal point: Anthony Rocca has been seen as the main target for the Magpies in front of goal, but promising youngster Travis Cloke is quickly becoming the club's 'go to man' as Mike Sheahan explains.
The player who has worried opposing teams most during the Michael Malthouse era is being superseded by one almost 10 years his junior.
Anthony Rocca, 30 in August, has been seen for several years as the man most likely to turn a game the Magpies way.
Yet, week by week, Travis Cloke, 20, is wresting the mantle from him.
Cloke accumulated 20 possessions in Saturday's loss to Geelong, took 10 marks and kicked 4.1.
In 15 games this year, he has averaged 11.7 kicks, 15 disposals and seven marks.
Significantly, he doesn't seem to have the shockers that Rocca has suffered.
Rocca had just seven possessions against Geelong on Saturday, took four marks and kicked 1.0.
In Round 11, he had just one kick and one handball against Melbourne and failed to score.
Both of them have had their problems kicking for goal, but Cloke is growing in confidence and efficiency; Rocca might be more erratic now than ever.
Cloke's conversion rate is just under 50 per cent (23.26) and getting better. Rocca is marginally above 50 per cent (26.25) and doing what he has done since his debut in 1995.
He is an outstanding prospect, Cloke. Has been since his debut in 2005. As happens so often, he was subjected to harsh scrutiny early on.
Because it's Collingwood, and because of his name.
He is playing well in the toughest position on the field at 20. That's outstanding.
He has super hands, is athletic, mobile and durable, and brave. Unlike the young Rocca, he has a big engine; like the young (and old) Rocca, he can roost the ball up to 60m.
What he has done is give Collingwood another viable avenue to goal, easing what has been an unhealthy reliance on Rocca.
Rocca has kicked at least one goal in nine of his 13 games this year; three or more seven times, with a best return of five.
He has a huge reputation inside the club, one built on his strength, his ability to take a big pack mark, his ability to convert from 60m and his contribution in the 2002 Grand Final, when he kicked 4.1 from 10 kicks in a game the Brisbane Lions won by nine points.
Cloke, though, gets to more contests, has better hands, and certainly has the endurance to present more often.
Does he get too far up the ground, or go too wide? Maybe, but the depth in his kicking minimises the problem.
While the Magpies always believed he was the pick of the three Cloke boys, there are plenty of times when the younger brother doesn't live up to the expectations.
This isn't one of them.
Jason may have played in a Grand Final (2003) and Cameron might prove Collingwood wrong at Carlton in his second try, but Travis clearly is the pick of David's (and Julie's) boys.
The media focus on Collingwood this year has centred on youngsters, and the pride of the pack: Dale Thomas, Scott Pendlebury, Tyson Goldsack, Martin Clarke and company.
Yet, Cloke was born in the same year as Thomas, Goldsack and Clarke, and is just 10 months older than Pendlebury. He has a long way to go to match his father's 333 games (for Richmond and Collingwood), but he is going to be a key player for a long time.

 

[daics cousin]

Trav will be the main man leading us into the finals this year and in yaers to come.He is getting better every week,and at the age of 20 he'll become a superstar in a year ot two.
Travis is currentrly the best centre half forward in the AFL.
Deserves all australian.
Gee if his kicking was accurate,he would be unstoppable.

 

[ant22]

Trav will be the main man leading us into the finals this year and in yaers to come.He is getting better every week,and at the age of 20 he'll become a superstar in a year ot two.
Travis is currentrly the best centre half forward in the AFL.
Deserves all australian.
Gee if his kicking was accurate,he would be unstoppable.

Mate I love cloke. I reckon he is going to be a star but what you are saying is deadset wrong. You are saying he is currently a better player than PAv ,Brown, Rewoildt and Lucas. He is not . I would rate Pav,Brown and Rewoildt all in the top 6 or 7 best players in the league and lucas has been in career best form over the last 2 years. This is the exact reason people laugh at our supporters because or ridiculous claims like this.

 

[hellfire]

^^

I think Cloke is just as dangerous as any of them. Right now he isn't as good as them, but he will be, he will be better.

 

[Ramere]

Agee with you Ant.

He isn't improving every week, he is showing good consistency week in week out.

He has the potential to end up a superstar but they are a rare breed, I'd be happy with him being a very good CHF.

He isn't the best CHF in the league at present but may well be the pick of the younger CHF's. Unless he absolutely blitz's in the final 7 rounds, ie perform as he did last round, he will not win AA selection.

He will be a vital cog in our push for a flag this year though, no doubt about it.

 

[Tarkyn_24]

Do we really have to provide a link and copy the story.

 

[Dundalis]

I find it funny people are saying he has gotten closer to fixing his goal kicking when most of his goals came from outside 50 where he has always been comfortable kicking. His kicking has not been fixed in one week and he will still have problems kicking goals from 20-40 metres out.

 

[Paul.]

I'm staggered.

A positive story? Cut us up some of whatever Mike is taking.

Cloke will be sensational.

 

[david_345]

Mate I love cloke. I reckon he is going to be a star but what you are saying is deadset wrong. You are saying he is currently a better player than PAv ,Brown, Rewoildt and Lucas. He is not . I would rate Pav,Brown and Rewoildt all in the top 6 or 7 best players in the league and lucas has been in career best form over the last 2 years. This is the exact reason people laugh at our supporters because or ridiculous claims like this.

Out of all the players you mentioned, bar maybe Riewoldt, none of them play as true centre half forwards. If you're going to compare Cloke to Pav and Brown you may as well compare him to Lance Franklin or Matthew Richardson. Both Pav and Brown have been down on form and Lucas runs very hot and cold.

The question is; is Cloke in the same league as Riewoldt? In my opinion, it's pretty close this year, maybe just favouring Riewoldt.

In the HeraldSun on Monday there were two seperate articles claiming Cloke to be close to the best CHF in the league. If not, he's certainly getting there.

 

[Lockyer24]

15 possesions 7 marks and 3 scoring shots is pretty good return from a 20 YO CHF

Not in the other guys league yet, but if he can keep kicking bags of 4 plus, he will

 

[Lonie_from_50]

He still has 7 plus games to make an impression this year, I wouldn't think an AA is too far off for big Trav, and it may be within two months.

 

[Lestat]

Just growing and growing in stature, isn't he. Lets hope his goal kicking improves.

The sooner we lose our reliance on Rocca the better.

 

[Jabso]

Looking back with hindsight you can tell he was struggling with injury last year. In 2005 his strengths were his ability at ground level, ability to get to contests while last year he seemed to struggle below his knees and looked a different player.

Now he is fully fit and while he hasn't yet shown he is a Jon Brown in busting packs open he really bullocks his way through when the ball hits ground level and I'm really impressed at his work in this area. And his tackling is very imposing.

 

[Thommo 42]

has much better hands than Jon Brown, and looks to be far less arrogant than Browny, who probably has newspaper clippings of himself on the roof of his bedroom.

Cloke is the next Richo as far as contested marks go for the next 10 years, lets just hope he gets Richo's early career goal kicking form and not his latter.

 

[mdc]

has much better hands than Jon Brown

I've been one of the biggest fans of Cloke III since his first season...but jesus, that's just stupid. Brown is the best player in the league by a mile when healthy.

 

[Thommo 42]

Brown marks on his chest and spills grabs he should take frequently.

Brown is a better footballer, but Cloke (and Polak) have sticky mits and grab nearly everything they get their hands on.

 

[mdc]

Brown marks on his chest and spills grabs he should take frequently.

Brown is a better footballer, but Cloke (and Polak) have sticky mits and grab nearly everything they get their hands on.

Mate, we must be talking about different players. Cloke has excellent hands but Brown is the only guy I've ever seen who can consistently beat multiple opponents in the air, sometimes without even leaving the ground. Don't judge him on this season alone, he's carrying an injury.
Polak? sure, he's having a good season, but come on, how does he even enter the discussion. Let's not compare talented young players with guaranteed Hall of Famers.

 

[Territory Magpie]

Trav will be the main man leading us into the finals this year and in yaers to come.He is getting better every week,and at the age of 20 he'll become a superstar in a year ot two.
Travis is currentrly the best centre half forward in the AFL.
Deserves all australian.
Gee if his kicking was accurate,he would be unstoppable.

Agree with you Daics Cousin. On form Travis is currently the best CHF going around and, together with Josh Fraser, is the most important player to the Colingwood team structure,

 

[ant22]

I cannot believe it. Really we do by a mile have the most one eyed supporters with rose coloured glasses in the league.

Clokes hands are much better than browns PLEAAAAAAAAAAAASE peole take your rose coloured glasses off and have a good look. I will tell you what cloke is. He is the best young CHF in the comp at the moment. He has played about 11-12 good consistant games in a row, his first few games were ordinary this year . A couple like his game on the weekend have been very good. He runs his guts out , reads the play well and has very good hands. He gets 1 opponent, normally not the best backman but generally the second best tall. He is rarely more than 1 out. He is a very very exciting young player but in my mind young players.

All these people who are proclaiming he his even close to j brown or a pav let me ask you this. If you were to put cloke say at brisbane this year and take brown out how do you think he would go. I suspect he would have stuggled big time. Anyone who has seen brisbane a few times this year will realise this because Brown does not have the luxury that is afforded to most other forwards. He is rarely ever 1 out. He is constantly going up against 2 or 3 players. He gets the worst deliverary in the comp(last 2 weeks have been better) They take forever to move the footy and when they do its on top of his head. I have seen atleast 8 brisbane games this year and there is not a player in the comp who would have been able to cop as well as Brown has with the structure he has to work with. This is nothing against cloke but his numbers would be half of what they are if he was in Browns possition. The only thing Brown has been down on this year is his kicking.

I think T Cloke is going to be a gun and I have talked him up since day 1. Even last year when a few fickle supporters on this board had either written him off or put him well behind the likes of thomas and pendles when it comes to the pecking order of young players. What he has done this year has been outstanding but geez we get carried away easily. We are the laughing stock of other supporters with good reason because we have NFI

 

[Dundalis]

I have to agree with Ant22. Ridiculously biased blathering in this thread. Cloke has better hands than Brown is one of the most ridiculous things I've read. Even worse is the statement that he just marks on his chest. Clearly don't watch Jon Brown play very much. I've seen Cloke clumsily fumble and almost get hit in the head with the ball as it went straight through his hands when he tried to mark it with his opponent 10 metres behind him. He is becoming a very good contested mark, but he still isn't in Jon Browns league. Still inconsistant in that area. Just like his kicking. But apparently based on one game his kicking is fixed and he's the best contested mark in the league. Ridiculous.

 

[Tarkyn_24]

I'm staggered.

A positive story? Cut us up some of whatever Mike is taking.

Cloke will be sensational.

It wasn't him who wrote it.

 

[Thommo 42]

Mate, we must be talking about different players. Cloke has excellent hands but Brown is the only guy I've ever seen who can consistently beat multiple opponents in the air, sometimes without even leaving the ground. Don't judge him on this season alone, he's carrying an injury.
Polak? sure, he's having a good season, but come on, how does he even enter the discussion. Let's not compare talented young players with guaranteed Hall of Famers.

Polak has long been reegarded for his sticky mits. Freo openly said that even if they had Pick 1 in the super draft that year they would have grabbed Polak ahead of Hodge, Ball and Judd (even if thats true, I can't believe they admitted it!)

I'm merely pointing to one particular skill, and thats clean marking. Polak and Cloke along with Richo are the best 3.

I cannot believe it. Really we do by a mile have the most one eyed supporters with rose coloured glasses in the league.

Clokes hands are much better than browns PLEAAAAAAAAAAAASE peole take your rose coloured glasses off and have a good look. I will tell you what cloke is. He is the best young CHF in the comp at the moment. He has played about 11-12 good consistant games in a row, his first few games were ordinary this year . A couple like his game on the weekend have been very good. He runs his guts out , reads the play well and has very good hands. He gets 1 opponent, normally not the best backman but generally the second best tall. He is rarely more than 1 out. He is a very very exciting young player but in my mind young players.

All these people who are proclaiming he his even close to j brown or a pav let me ask you this. If you were to put cloke say at brisbane this year and take brown out how do you think he would go. I suspect he would have stuggled big time. Anyone who has seen brisbane a few times this year will realise this because Brown does not have the luxury that is afforded to most other forwards. He is rarely ever 1 out. He is constantly going up against 2 or 3 players. He gets the worst deliverary in the comp(last 2 weeks have been better) They take forever to move the footy and when they do its on top of his head. I have seen atleast 8 brisbane games this year and there is not a player in the comp who would have been able to cop as well as Brown has with the structure he has to work with. This is nothing against cloke but his numbers would be half of what they are if he was in Browns possition. The only thing Brown has been down on this year is his kicking.

I think T Cloke is going to be a gun and I have talked him up since day 1. Even last year when a few fickle supporters on this board had either written him off or put him well behind the likes of thomas and pendles when it comes to the pecking order of young players. What he has done this year has been outstanding but geez we get carried away easily. We are the laughing stock of other supporters with good reason because we have NFI

I never once said he was a better player than Pav or Brown, in fact I said he wasn't. I merely said he has better hands. As for suggesting that brown gets the worst delivery in the comp, you have to be joking. He still has 3 of the Fab 5 hitting him lace out with Lappin, Black and Power getting about. Its just that now he attracts the oppositions best 3 defenders all at once!

I have to agree with Ant22. Ridiculously biased blathering in this thread. Cloke has better hands than Brown is one of the most ridiculous things I've read. Even worse is the statement that he just marks on his chest. Clearly don't watch Jon Brown play very much. I've seen Cloke clumsily fumble and almost get hit in the head with the ball as it went straight through his hands when he tried to mark it with his opponent 10 metres behind him. He is becoming a very good contested mark, but he still isn't in Jon Browns league. Still inconsistant in that area. Just like his kicking. But apparently based on one game his kicking is fixed and he's the best contested mark in the league. Ridiculous.

I watch Browny play every time he plays at the Gabba, I also watch him train maybe once every two weeks. Browny is the best key forward in the game today when he is 100% fit, but thats the whole package. Cloke, Polak and Richo are all better pack marks than Browny. Much like Reiwolt, Browny built his earlier career on having the tank of a midfielder and just outlasting the big lumbering key defenders with superb hard running for a big man. Sure he can take the contested mark, but have a look at his stats, he's never been a consistent top performer in the contested marks category. His injury troubles are purely as a result of his rediculous ability for gut busting running for someone of his size, when you get away from your man so much you fall into the habit of just ketting the footy hit you on the chest, so on the odd ocassion when you're in a contested situation the bad habits settle in.

As for Browny being a hall of famer, lets not get too far ahead of ourselves. He could be gone inside 3 years with the punishment his body has taken, and he hasn't yet done enough to be in the Hall of Fame.

 

[mdc]

Polak has long been reegarded for his sticky mits. Freo openly said that even if they had Pick 1 in the super draft that year they would have grabbed Polak ahead of Hodge, Ball and Judd (even if thats true, I can't believe they admitted it!)

I'm merely pointing to one particular skill, and thats clean marking. Polak and Cloke along with Richo are the best 3.

I never once said he was a better player than Pav or Brown, in fact I said he wasn't. I merely said he has better hands. As for suggesting that brown gets the worst delivery in the comp, you have to be joking. He still has 3 of the Fab 5 hitting him lace out with Lappin, Black and Power getting about. Its just that now he attracts the oppositions best 3 defenders all at once!

That Freo wanted Polak ahead of any of the top 3 just confirms their incompetence and bears no relevance to this discussion.
Naming Cloke, Polak, and Richo as the 3 players that have the cleanest hands...i mean, did you just pick them out of a hat?
You talk about Brown being an endurance athlete, yet Richo is the prototypical lead-up CHF in the last decade... The reason Brown is better than Richo in the first place is because Brown takes contested marks, and crashes packs, whereas Richo just takes the occasional one over the top.
Cloke plays similar to Richo in that regard - if you saw Malthouse on Footy Classified he isolated his "workrate" and ability to cover the ground as his best attribute.
And Polak, like I said earlier, is talented enough, but Kosie at St.Kilda is a much better pack mark, Lloyd pre-injury has better hands on the lead than any of your 3, Treadrea was almost as good as Brown pre-injury and trumps any of your 3 as well, and others like Hall, Pavlich etc... should not just arbitrarily be excluded from discussion.

 

[Dj Chriss]

That Freo wanted Polak ahead of any of the top 3 just confirms their incompetence and bears no relevance to this discussion.
Naming Cloke, Polak, and Richo as the 3 players that have the cleanest hands...i mean, did you just pick them out of a hat?
You talk about Brown being an endurance athlete, yet Richo is the prototypical lead-up CHF in the last decade... The reason Brown is better than Richo in the first place is because Brown takes contested marks, and crashes packs, whereas Richo just takes the occasional one over the top.
Cloke plays similar to Richo in that regard - if you saw Malthouse on Footy Classified he isolated his "workrate" and ability to cover the ground as his best attribute.
And Polak, like I said earlier, is talented enough, but Kosie at St.Kilda is a much better pack mark, Lloyd pre-injury has better hands on the lead than any of your 3, Treadrea was almost as good as Brown pre-injury and trumps any of your 3 as well, and others like Hall, Pavlich etc... should not just arbitrarily be excluded from discussion.

Hasnt Richo taken the most Contested marks in the last 10 years?

 

[Thommo 42]

That Freo wanted Polak ahead of any of the top 3 just confirms their incompetence and bears no relevance to this discussion.
Naming Cloke, Polak, and Richo as the 3 players that have the cleanest hands...i mean, did you just pick them out of a hat?
You talk about Brown being an endurance athlete, yet Richo is the prototypical lead-up CHF in the last decade... The reason Brown is better than Richo in the first place is because Brown takes contested marks, and crashes packs, whereas Richo just takes the occasional one over the top.
Cloke plays similar to Richo in that regard - if you saw Malthouse on Footy Classified he isolated his "workrate" and ability to cover the ground as his best attribute.
And Polak, like I said earlier, is talented enough, but Kosie at St.Kilda is a much better pack mark, Lloyd pre-injury has better hands on the lead than any of your 3, Treadrea was almost as good as Brown pre-injury and trumps any of your 3 as well, and others like Hall, Pavlich etc... should not just arbitrarily be excluded from discussion.

Richo has taken more contested marks in the last 12 years than any AFL listed player.

Who says Brown is better than Richo? As individual careers go (excluding team success) Richo is about to play his 250th game and has nearly 800 goals to his name. Browny has played about 130 games for less than 250 goals, he has a LONG way to go before he is held in the same esteem as Matthew Richardson.

Kosi is a fair nomination for being a contender, but needs to spend more time actually on the park in addition to playing down back or up forward.

Tredders is a fair nomination, so is Lloyd but not in current terms. Hall has had butter fingers since the 2006 Grand Final and has been dropping more sitters than Geraint Jones and the Pav is another that has been getting spoiled too often due to attempted chest marks.