Cloke and Collingwood - to part or not to part?

[DemonWA 3,940]

i'd prefer to raid their midfield stocks, but getting cloke wouldnt be the worst thing

although the thought of him in our jumper makes me sick

[DemonWA 3,940]

No man is an island . Consider why cloke has decent stats. Surround our forwards, esp Clark with such support and hed present similar results id suggest. Spend the money in the midfield for mine.

haha true

Jack anthony kicekd goals playing for the pies!!

[Good Times Grimes 2,396]

Yeah , I'm in two minds - we need him but at what price ? We've got young blokes that could develop into key forwards - McDonald , Cook etc but Travis would add wins to our team straight away . If the club did get him I think we'd all get used to it rather quickly 'GTG' . Much like our attitude when we acquired Clark .

I'm sure he'd be a great player for us and we'd all love him straight away, but I worry that paying that sort of money could cost us in the long run when we're trying to get some gun midfielders (which is what we desperately need). That being said, I'm sure that Neeld, Harrington, etc know what's best for the club and know how much money we have available to spend on certain types of players, so I will support whatever decisions they make.

I walked past him today when he was leaving the Westpac Centre (or whatever the Collingwood HQ is called), and he is a MASSIVE unit. I knew he was big, but when he was right up next to me I felt like a dwarf.

I see just as much upside in Cloke as I do in Clark...what did we pay for Clark?

The club has already clearly stated they are looking for another big forward, so I am certain that Cloke is well and truly in their sights. I expect to see him running around in Dees colours next year (but please don't revisit this post at the end of the year).

Haha I'll remember that come the trade period. You'll get full credit if you're right!

[Good Times Grimes 2,396]

i'd prefer to raid their midfield stocks, but getting cloke wouldnt be the worst thing

although the thought of him in our jumper makes me sick

The thought of him in our jumper actually makes me feel great. The thought of him in any other jumper is what makes me feel sick. I just hope that if we get him we don't pay him any more than he is worth.

[The Song Formerly Known As 6,479]

What about Lucas "sticky hands" Cook??

He will be our Cloke. Its not as if we are finals bound anytime soon. Id rather persist with Cook as our FF as IMO he will be a gun. Why would Cloke want to come to the Dee's anyway?? In all seriousness we have won one game for the year, we arent going to attract superstars anytime soon.

I agree!

Cook has been forgotten almost i recon but i really like how we are biding our time with him, letting him bulk up and gain confidence before throwing him to the wolves!

Cloke would be amazing, but so so expensive when we potentially have one we can develop (Cook) that is already waiting in the wings.

[GIRO 63]

It's a smoke screen we are pushing up clokes price to raid their mids I reckon

[Good Times Grimes 2,396]

It's a smoke screen we are pushing up clokes price to raid their mids I reckon

Do they have any gun mids that are coming out of contract? Pendles just re-signed, Swan and Thomas both signed last year, and I think Sidebottom is also contracted for a few more years. Nothing wrong with driving up Cloke's price though to make them pay overs, though B)

[Grandson of a gun 276]

I don't expect to see him at the Demons at all.

Would love to see him go to GWS just to stick it up Eddie!

[Adam The God 30,646]

I still think if we're going after Cloke, it's probably more a smoke and mirrors thing, and in fact we're after one of their mids. Sidebottom has been a gun this year.

[Jordie_tackles 354]

Do they have any gun mids that are coming out of contract? Pendles just re-signed, Swan and Thomas both signed last year, and I think Sidebottom is also contracted for a few more years. Nothing wrong with driving up Cloke's price though to make them pay overs, though B)

I think Sidebottom and beams are out of contract this year

[Good Times Grimes 2,396]

I think Sidebottom and beams are out of contract this year

I'd love to see us target Sidebottom, then. He is an absolute gun.

[Jesse Christ 2,884]

I don't expect to see him at the Demons at all.

Would love to see him go to GWS just to stick it up Eddie!

hahah so would I. What was the quote from Ed? "we don't let opposition teams come in and steal our players like the dees" or words to that affect.

FWIW with if we didn't recruit Clark I would be after Cloke all guns blazing. However I am thinking that if we did get Cloke also it would allow Clark to be a second ruckman-resting forward line player- and he would kill at that. It would also take pressure off our ruck division, and although I've been against putting Clark in the ruck for numerous reasons, I can also see the benefit in it.

Would I rather a gun mid? Probably. But a weapon is a weapon, and make no mistake, Cloke is a contested mark machine. He is a power forward and to be able to land two power forwards in successive years would be astounding. It would make the need/want for Watts to play forward void. It would make the reliance on Cook coming through not as important (a bonus if he does, obviously, and I think he will), it will help us if Jurrah doesn't play again (and if he does, well just think..) and it will allow our other forwards to play smaller.

Viney will help the mids stocks immeasurably. Trengove will develop after another pre-season, Jones is still young and still has development left in him, and some continuity with Gysberts will help greatly. Sustained form of Moloney, Magner and Mckenzie as an out and out tager and we suddenly aren't so bad.

Plus there's still pick 4/5/6 from this years draft which could net us a great outside mid.

In conclusion- lets go for it. Big marking forwards don't grow on trees and instead of thinking about the negatives, think about the positives it will bring the team. Have I changed my tune? Yes

[PaulRB 6,435]

I still think if we're going after Cloke, it's probably more a smoke and mirrors thing, and in fact we're after one of their mids. Sidebottom has been a gun this year.

Or simply trying to have the pies deplete their coffers on Cloke so they can not come after one of ours...

[Redleg 42,076]

We have a much bigger need for good mids and small forwards.

[olisik 4,060]

any of the good small forwards up for FA this year? Betts? Nahas?

I wouldnt mind targetting one of them as well. I actually think that in the game these days that a good small forwrd is worth a bit of extra coin.

[beelzebub 23,390]

It's a smoke screen we are pushing up clokes price to raid their mids I reckon

You may well have something there about the smoke and mirris bit. if I were Melbourne Id be agreeing in a way to any rumour without actually validating it, just to keep people bamboozled whilst you quietly go after whomever you wish. Im not sure wed actually be targetting any Maggie Mids though.

[monoccular 17,702]

What about Lucas "sticky hands" Cook??

He will be our Cloke. Its not as if we are finals bound anytime soon. Id rather persist with Cook as our FF as IMO he will be a gun. Why would Cloke want to come to the Dee's anyway?? In all seriousness we have won one game for the year, we arent going to attract superstars anytime soon.

I haven't seen enough of Cook to be sure, but to those who have - could he ever become the big bodied gorilla that is Cloke? I hear that he is a good mark and kick, but frail of frame. Comments invited, but only from those who know.

[monoccular 17,702]

I hope so, & E'd can build his house out of recycled beer cartons for all I care.

are you suggesting that the Cheaters will offer Eddie a whole lot of Visy recycled cardboard in exchange for Cloke?

[demonkeaney 61]

Yeah, he kicked 13 goals on the weekend for god sake.

Buddy not a power fwd in my opinion. He's just a freakshow. Cloke, couple of mids in superdraft and Viney sounds fine to me

[Jordie_tackles 354]

We have a much bigger need for good mids and small forwards.

small forwards dont win you finals though, just ask carlscum

[beelzebub 23,390]

small forwards dont win you finals though, just ask carlscum

but they help the ones who do

[deeko 952]

I haven't seen enough of Cook to be sure, but to those who have - could he ever become the big bodied gorilla that is Cloke? I hear that he is a good mark and kick, but frail of frame. Comments invited, but only from those who know.

I went Saturday just to watch him as have never seen him in the flesh and only watched clips of him from the TAC Cup days.

He still is skinny but has definitely getting more muscle around his arms, chest and legs from the old footage. Someone said on here I think that he has put on about 10kgs. Wouldn't be surprised but he is still thin.

They played him full forward all day starting about 15m out from goal with Fitzy sitting about 15m out on the other side. There werent many search leads outside the arc. Think he was told to stay close to home.

He didn't take any big pack marks Saturday but one on one his hands were great at least 4 or 5 times. His opponent looked young also with a similar build. Cooky held his own and his hands looked really good. Every grab of his just stuck. No fumbling at all.

He will never be a cloke build wise, more of a Kosi I think.

[Hells Gates 505]

I haven't seen enough of Cook to be sure, but to those who have - could he ever become the big bodied gorilla that is Cloke? I hear that he is a good mark and kick, but frail of frame. Comments invited, but only from those who know.

Think Jack Reiwoldt/Kozitsche.....

[jumbo returns 6,741]

I went Saturday just to watch him as have never seen him in the flesh and only watched clips of him from the TAC Cup days.

He still is skinny but has definitely getting more muscle around his arms, chest and legs from the old footage. Someone said on here I think that he has put on about 10kgs. Wouldn't be surprised but he is still thin.

They played him full forward all day starting about 15m out from goal with Fitzy sitting about 15m out on the other side. There werent many search leads outside the arc. Think he was told to stay close to home.

He didn't take any big pack marks Saturday but one on one his hands were great at least 4 or 5 times. His opponent looked young also with a similar build. Cooky held his own and his hands looked really good. Every grab of his just stuck. No fumbling at all.

He will never be a cloke build wise, more of a Kosi I think.

Let's hope he plays better than Kosi - one of the most disappointing footballers running around.

Never the same after Gia ran through him.

[biggestred 5,281]

We need a gun mid.

BUT

I'd love to see Gary Lyon come out on the footy show and say that he knows from a credible source that cloke will not play for collingwood next year. It'd be fantastic, even if a complete lie