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Player Watch 32 Travis Cloke

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Seedsfan

Seedsfan

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I have been looking at his stats and they are only marginally lower than last year despite getting a lot less ball kicked his way. I do accept that he has been poor but it has got me thinking. Cloke would not have been dropped last year, yet here we are set to drop him this year for Cox who has been playing ruck all year in the VFL.
Am I the only one that thinks maybe the reason they're being harder on Trav now is because he is in the 4th of a 5 year deal and he needs to achieve certain criteria to trigger a big pay day next year, one of those triggers most likely being not being that he doesn't get dropped for poor form? Maybe they want to free up some space to spend elsewhere.
 
I'm all for him spending some time in the vfl but this isn't the week to do it.
 
I think its about time we had a player watch thread on Cloke. Our angst about him infiltrates numerous other threads, and for good reason. He would have to be our most frustrating footballer of the last 5 years, given his salary, key role, and capabilities. I feel I have spent a large chunk of my adult life looking away when he takes a shot on goal, and then groaning when he misses. But missing shots on goal are the least of his problems ATM.
 

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Cloke has his faults but he has been a warrior for our club. In our darkest hour he should be given the opportunity to turn around his form and contribute to a win. IMO, playing him in the VFL instead is an act of betrayal by the club.
 
jmac70 said:
Cloke has his faults but he has been a warrior for our club. In our darkest hour he should be given the opportunity to turn around his form and contribute to a win. IMO, playing him in the VFL instead is an act of betrayal by the club.
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Interesting point but how many weeks would you do that for? I'm all for giving the guy a go but isn't that exactly what's been happening the last few weeks? I'm just wondering but I get the strong impression that he has lost all confidence and isn't even doing the things that he always does well. I wouldn't see it as a punishment. More as a way to get his confidence back. Anyway, he may well prove me wrong and I'm sure the club knows better than I do.
 
If he's been dropped it is a great call by the club and overdue. He has shown he can't turn it around at senior level. He needs this and we need this if he is any chance to get back to playing good footy. Since when has dropping a clearly underperforming player been an act of betrayal by the club?

He is not just underperforming in terms of output.. his effort and defensive play is terrible and setting a bad example from one of our most senior players.
 
PieNSauce said:
Interesting point but how many weeks would you do that for? I'm all for giving the guy a go but isn't that exactly what's been happening the last few weeks? I'm just wondering but I get the strong impression that he has lost all confidence and isn't even doing the things that he always does well. I wouldn't see it as a punishment. More as a way to get his confidence back. Anyway, he may well prove me wrong and I'm sure the club knows better than I do.
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No player is above being dropped but this isn't the time to do it. In reality Essendon are little more than VFL standard anyway. We should be playing Cloke, Cox and Moore on Monday. This will enable Cloke to play his natural game and is the best chance of finding form.
 
jmac70 said:
No player is above being dropped but this isn't the time to do it. In reality Essendon are little more than VFL standard anyway. We should be playing Cloke, Cox and Moore on Monday. This will enable Cloke to play his natural game and is the best chance of finding form.
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I'm not wanting to be argumentative but I can't help wondering why this isn't the absolute best time to do it. Surely you do it when we play the weaker sides don't you? I'm not sure but I'm just not convinced a stint in the VFL wouldn't give him a bit of a spark.
 
Travis Cloke where to begin.
Firstly in many ways we should be lucky to have him.
Contested marking beast.
Strong. Great tank.
Conversely makes missing easy shot an art form (Matthew Richardson says hi.).
But kicks long complicated goals.
That said, Travis is a player who requires consistent ball quickly and correctly given to him.
So he's man on man, one on one.
That's his unique talent, one on one.
But the opposition have worked him out and ensure that he's not one on one. Our placement to him is to slow and too haphazard.
Also Travis needs a proper big man to support him, taking some of the heat.
Spare me, don't say Moore, he's not close yet. It should come but he's a while away.
Now it's up to Travis, to go and earn his status in the game again.

My own view is, he should be close to elite level, even elite, but he's fallen away, and he's standing in the game may be a thing of the past. Great shame, for him, for us.

Now it's up to him, there is still time and games....
 
eddiebankbalance said:
Did I hear Stevens say something like; the players were not happy with his form?
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Stevens said after the Hawks game last night that at the Tuesday meeting Leading Teams held an honesty session in which the players were pretty disappointed in Travis.

He also said that he wasn't the only one and that a number of players were quite shaken up afterwards.
 

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jmac70 said:
Cloke has his faults but he has been a warrior for our club. In our darkest hour he should be given the opportunity to turn around his form and contribute to a win. IMO, playing him in the VFL instead is an act of betrayal by the club.
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He does get paid a lot of money.
It's a job, he's not playing for Collingwood as a favour.
Betrayal??? Turn it up.
 
Why is anyone pointing at Trav's stats this year in comparison to the last five? All his career Pies midfielders have just put the ball "somewhere in his vicinity" and Trav's been good enough to get a fair bit of it (thus all the missed shots you all claim). In 2016 blind Freddy could see that Bucks has been using Clokey up the field and instructing the mids to kick it (a) to the spot 30m out from goal to a Fasolo, Gault or Moore or (b) to attempt to hit up a loose man caused by Trav's taking the two men with him up the ground. I hate to point to stats but in the first 4 rounds Cloke has been the targeted forward on only 15% of our forward entries. Fasolo, Moore and others are at 25% and above. So the plans clear: use the forwards freed up by Cloke's reputation and hi high leads. Don't kick it to Cloke.

Now I don't know....but if a guy is doing what he's been instructed and then others don't get the ball sufficiently enough to kick winning scores maybe as a coach you go back to plan B. Because of injuries to Swan and Elliot our forward structure is not going to be what Bucks envisaged in pre season. Clokey will have to be reinstated as our power forward and then maybe you will all see his worth.

He's played a s a decoy the first 4 rounds. Let the big fella loose to rag doll a few blokes, but get him some help.That's always been the problem since 2011. No help means Clokey gets triple teamed and we all know what happens then.
 
campbell023 said:
Yeah possibly. I just can't see how leading teams can help when everything is going pear shape.

For the sake of our season, I really hope it works out for Clokey.
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I don't know the structure well enough to comment really.
 

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Jekyll and Hyde said:
He does get paid a lot of money.
It's a job, he's not playing for Collingwood as a favour.
Betrayal??? Turn it up.
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What we need right now is for the club to pick the strongest possible team. Cloke is in that side. Singling him out for our current malaise is unfair. You could name our decent players in one hand at the moment.
 
Duggy31 said:
Stevens said after the Hawks game last night that at the Tuesday meeting Leading Teams held an honesty session in which the players were pretty disappointed in Travis.

He also said that he wasn't the only one and that a number of players were quite shaken up afterwards.
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Did they question the captain?

Sorry but he's been under performing too, although we aren't allowed to say it apparently.

Harsh to "drop" Travis Cloke based on an under performing midfield and terrible run out of the backline, which has resulted in us being one of, if not the least efficient side in the AFL going forward.

Put Clokey in a good team and he'd still be kicking close to 50 goals a year and leading the AFL for contested marks.

Has his form been below expectation? Yes, but so has just about everyone else who has worn our jumper this year, including every player in the leadership group bar Taylor Adams.

Should we drop them all too? Oh wait, can't do that, only drop the scape goat.
 
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