Travis Cloke

[cakewalk_1]

tell me one time cloke has stood up when everyone was down? just once

Not sure why you single him out? The problem I see with Cloke is he always leads to the boundry lines. If you look closely at most of his games he is always taking shots for goals pressed up against the boundry. I would prefer he constests 20-40m directly infront and we don't expect him to mark everything but at least the smaller players can feed off the contest.

The problem Collingwood has is it goes out too wide and other teams always control the centre and it only takes one turn over and one kick for teams to run it down the centre for a shot on goal and get Collingwood off guard. Happens most weeks.

 

[greening22]

how does a centre half forward stand up if everyone is down?

I can tell you when he has stood up when it counted if you like?

2007 finals series ring a bell? the 2007 H&A game against Geelong?

Well I do recall Dermot Brereton being B.O.G. in the 1985 Grand Final when though Hawthorn were beaten by 79 by Essendon. In fact he kicked 8 goals from that position!

Now my problems with Travis Cloke are as follows:

1. His lack of work when he does not have the ball in terms of tackling and keeping the ball in the forward line.

2. His very poor conversion. I mean he is a professional AFL player and has the best resources in the AFL at his disposal to improve in that area. I mean if Stuart Loewe could do it at St. Kilda in the late 80's/early 90's, then why can't Cloke?

3. Sometimes - in fact too many times in my opinion - he drops his head when things are not going his way. He needs to fight his way back into the game whether it be tacling, shepherding, or even just being more demonstrative on the field.

Alas my gut instinct tells me that we may have another "great white hope" playing for us who goes missing when it really counts.

I mean tonight in one of the BIGGEST games of the year for this club, he picks up 7 kicks; 2 handballs; 3 marks; 1 tackle; and did not bother the scoreboard. Simply inadequate.

By the way Dermot was just 21 when he did that in the 1985 Grand Final. Travis Cloke is 22.

I think that once again mediocrity is being wallpapered over at this club.

 

[Axl the great]

RE:Trav Cloke, Midfeilders make forwards simple as that people, without constant supply and good kicking forwards like Trav are like a fish with no water, brilliant midfields can make even average forwards look like superstars eg: Kent Kinsley. Whether we like it or not we dont have a good midfield at the moment so our forwards like Cloke will struggle till this rectifies itself.

 

[Heater39]

Unerstand it's not that simple more with the op saying he never preforms when we play bad.

As for the NYE thing it's not out of the question although I atm put it down to him struggling without another target and at times he is looking lost. I am not sure if he has been given a new role and is strugling to adjust. That said I think most of his games without another key foward last year where pretty poor too. John Anthony is good but he is not a real key target ATM we need someone to step up and offer that other then Cloke.

RRRRRRooooooooooooooccccccccccccccccaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[wixism]

Give Brent Macaffer a go lol
he will dominate in the VFL this week i recon.
hope he pushes in the side soon
What do you recon will get for Cloke if we trade him

 

[wixism]

I thought Brown did a very good job today
He played on Hawkins and kept him very quiet he only kicked 2 easy goals
i was happy with him

 

[Bloben]

Cloke tonight really disappointed me. He is our number one main man however most times tonight when the ball was at the half back line, Cloke stood still at CHF and never made a decent attempt to make an option or even looked interested in leading.

He is supposedly such a hard working forward that leads constantly, chases and tackles but this year meh!

If this was Travs first season I would say that his work rate, commitment and intensity will never make it at AFL level. Lets just hope that he can show some of his old gruntish self again soon

 

[Visions]

Cloke has most of the attributes to make it as a power forward, with his strength he should be killing most defenders. His biggest letdown is his kicking and when he gets the chance he doesn't grasp it. Today two shots at goal went across the face and didn't trouble the scorers and it happens week in week out with him. His kicking is below par and quite frankly he won't ever become an eilte player because of it.

 

[lethalburns]

^^ i feel we over-rate him a bit.

kicking is a problem, has no vertical leap and a poor turning circle.

we have also bulked him up far too much.

 

[Running Bouncer]

the scary thing about cloke is that for all his problems kicking the ball its probably not the worst part of his ball use - his decision making ability is just awful.. for all medhurst's aerial and goal kicking ability its probably his abilty to hit targets from outside 50 that is his biggest asset - its criminal that most of the time tehy seem to ahve cloke in that role instead (or at least try to - of coruse he has to get the ball first).

 

[Coin_Toss]

He doesn't know his role because he's got no support at the moment. We need Rusling and Rocca in the side. Without either of them we are a side with an unreliable forward setup.

 

[HFF]

Over-reaction by many in here.

Sure, he was very disappointing last night but so was Jack who constantly tried to play from behind on Scarlett.

People questioning his work-rate on its entirety have no idea. Even Wallsy is at awe with his repeated second and third efforts for a young key forward playing the hardest position on the ground at CHF.

No other side in the league has a young CHF. Just Hawthorn.

In fact, every other side in the comp have mature/experienced key forwards on the park i.e Fev, Brown, Mooney, Lloyd & Lucas, Pav etc.

We expect alot from him and probably rightly so but it's still amazing at how young he is.

As for Browny, I think he has suffered a little since Presti has come back into the side. I would much rather Browny playing on the best key forward weekly to fast-track his development and Presti being given the next best.

 

[didaka]

Cloke is the type of player you build a side around. We haven't finished building that side yet.

He would benefit from some more direct football.

Rocca's return will help a lot at this stage of his career.

 

[FuManchu]

He doesn't know his role because he's got no support at the moment. We need Rusling and Rocca in the side. Without either of them we are a side with an unreliable forward setup.

In some respects you are correct, he needs to have other players become equally viable options into the forward line. Perhps not the two you mentioned because their tenure at Collingwood is tenuous due to age or injury.

But Cloke would benefit fromnot being the sole focus into the forward line.

But a lot of Clokes problems are of his own doing. He wanders too far from goal. When he gets it he has always diminished his angle at goal by getting possession on the boundary and consequently puts more pressure on himself when he invariably misses. I dont think he is a good contested mark, many say he is, but its very rare he takes a pack mark, its generally on a lead. Which means he plays like a flanker. Do we need a 6 foot 5 flanker?

I wonder if this is his natural game or a result of MM wanting the game played on the flanks. Personally, I'd play him deeper and tell him to stay well within 30 metres of goal. At least that way, he creates a hard match up close to goal. At the moment without Rocca or any other tall focal point, we have nothing deep. Might also straighten us up a bit too. At the moment its too easy to transfer the ball along the boundary because he runs up to meet it between the wing and the flank. The deeper you have to carry it to attract a focal point, the more you have to centre it as the ground narrows towards goal.

 

[Ickirus]

Cloke is terrible in the most important skill for his position, which is to kick goals.

Leading up the boundary line also hinders his effectiveness, he seems to just bomb it long now instead of trying to spot players up like he did in 2007.

He will never be an elite forward, as his goal kicking is terrible and his field kicking isn't that great either, most players struggle to ever improve their kicking to any notable degree.

I wouldn't be against trialing Cloke at CHB and N.Brown at CHF for a half in a game, if it fails, well so be it and just switch back.

In the meantime Cloke should be spending at least an hour every training session just doing set shots.

 

[FuManchu]

Anthony has such a limited role. Unless he learns to take 12 marks a game, he will phase himself out of the game. He has no ground ball ability. Seriously, I have some strong concerns about his limitations which become more apparent every time he has a strong marking game. An extra 10 kgs on the body might help him too.

 

[Thommo 42]

So he's not as good as Dermie?

thanks for clearing that up, didn't realise this was in dispute!

 

[StillWaiting5689]

He was pretty terrible last night and it wasn't as though he had no chance to make an impact, he had a couple terrible misses. If he kicks those goals even when he is playing bad then when he picks up some form he will be really dangerous. His kicking really needs to improve and he needs to kick more goals. I don't think I've ever been confident of him kicking a goal unless he is in the goal square.

 

[greening22]

Over-reaction by many in here.

Sure, he was very disappointing last night but so was Jack who constantly tried to play from behind on Scarlett.

People questioning his work-rate on its entirety have no idea. Even Wallsy is at awe with his repeated second and third efforts for a young key forward playing the hardest position on the ground at CHF.

No other side in the league has a young CHF. Just Hawthorn.

In fact, every other side in the comp have mature/experienced key forwards on the park i.e Fev, Brown, Mooney, Lloyd & Lucas, Pav etc.

We expect alot from him and probably rightly so but it's still amazing at how young he is.

As for Browny, I think he has suffered a little since Presti has come back into the side. I would much rather Browny playing on the best key forward weekly to fast-track his development and Presti being given the next best.

You are far too soft. In the biggest game of the year so far, Travis Cloke was very poor. His decision-making is just not good enough. As for Nathan Brown he has gone backwards as a player. Seems to be far too indecisive and has real problems with agile and fast-leading forwards. I think that he needs a wake-up call; perhaps a return to the VFL.

We have to stop accepting mediocrity.

 

[DaVe86]

Trav is a huge worry for me.

He is our number 1 forward yet cannot kick goals. Hasnt got near the big sticks this year apart from a few junk time goals against Melbourne.


He had a few chances last night and buggered them all.


We need a key forward who kicks goals.

He will never be in the class of Franklin, Roughead, Brown, Bradshaw, Fevola, Lynch. Hall etc until he puts some scores on the board.

He gives his all, is quick, has good hands and is an important player to us.

But our forward line is and will always be overrated when the best player and barometer does not kick goals