Cloke and Collingwood - to part or not to part?

[Range Rover 1,935]

We need to splash money at mid fielders - not Cloke.

Unless there is a Judd-like, Dangerfield-esque bonafide freakshow on the market I would prefer us load up on the best talent at the draft midfield-wise.

At the moment the best people can come up with is a Trav Boak or a Brad Sewell. Good players but not game-changers by any stretch.

If we can entice better performances out of Sylvia and Moloney, get Blease, Gys, Tappy, Trenners, Grimes to go to another level ... AND bring in Viney and two premo mids from this year's draft, the club will be in very healthy shape list-wise.

I can understand why we'd have a massive crack at Cloke. I hope we get him.

[olisik 4,060]

alot of people think that we need to spend alot on midfield but our stocks actually arnt half bad

going forward we have Trengove, Viney, Gysberts, Grimes, Blease, Mckenzie, Taggert Draft pick #4, Draft Pick #12 as well as whatevers left in the old fellas. I seriously dont see why we should throw money at a Caddy or a Boak for even more inside mids when we have enough of those. Its either a superstar mid or nothing in my opinion and these guys which are available will not be super stars.

When you look at our forward line who do we seriously have besides Clark?

Watts and Garland arn't proper forwards and are not gorillas, Jurrah spends 10 months on the sideline for a 4 week injury and gets injured again his first game back, his worse then Grimes with injuries. Howe is only a support player in any position.

[DemonWA 3,940]

Unless there is a Judd-like, Dangerfield-esque bonafide freakshow on the market I would prefer us load up on the best talent at the draft midfield-wise.

what if we end up with picks 13 and 15 and pick a Bate and a Dunn again?!!

[old dee 24,028]

Unless there is a Judd-like, Dangerfield-esque bonafide freakshow on the market I would prefer us load up on the best talent at the draft midfield-wise.

At the moment the best people can come up with is a Trav Boak or a Brad Sewell. Good players but not game-changers by any stretch.

If we can entice better performances out of Sylvia and Moloney, get Blease, Gys, Tappy, Trenners, grimes to go to another level ... AND bring in two premo mids from this year's draft, the club will be in very healthy shape list-wise.

I can understand why we'd have a massive crack at Cloke. I hope we get him.

In your view RR is there a price that is too much?

[old dee 24,028]

what if we end up with picks 13 and 15 and pick a Bate and a Dunn again?!!

Will be better than you know who

[Range Rover 1,935]

what if we end up with picks 13 and 15 and pick a Bate and a Dunn again?!!

What if we don't?

Barry P no longer has his finger on the chicken switch. Hopefully we've learned a few lessons.

You can only be optimistic and look forward with confidence.

[rpfc 28,964]

what if we end up with picks 13 and 15 and pick a Bate and a Dunn again?!!

That scenario would have us winning all our remaining games and winning our first final.

So I would be fine with that!

But seriously, you can't just continue to bring up failed picks - you have to move on and hope you get them right next time. Who knows? We might trade them.

[Pennant St Dee 13,412]

I was listening to Sports Central on Perth radio 6pr last night (3AW sister station). Brad Hardie said that the word on the street is that Pies have offered Cloake 3 years @ ~750,000 a year, Dockers @ 900,000, and Dee's 1.1 mill.

Then they also discussed how the demons seem to get into bidding wars with Freo and insinuated that it had something to do with Schwab and Connelly?! Think that’s a bit farfetched, but they seemed to think us making a play for Clark and now Cloake is an ego trip for Schwab against this old club

not sure if it has any merit

Hardie hates Connelly & Schwab and gives Schwab no credit for turning Fremantles off field fortunes around, he cleared a massive debt while he was there. One thing Brad will never do is backdown from something he says eg "telling Woosha in 2010 he was about as close to a Premiership as he (Hardie) was to getting to Mars".

Hardie has also kept quite his belief around trade time 2011 & earlier this season that we had paid way overs for Mitch Clark and he wasn't worth that sort of money

[Range Rover 1,935]

In your view RR is there a price that is too much?

Money-wise, of course. There'll be a line at which Harrington/Schwab/Neeld will drop out.

But 5 years? That's doable IMO.

[old dee 24,028]

Hardie hates Connelly & Schwab and gives Schwab no credit for turning Fremantles off field fortunes around, he cleared a massive debt while he was there. One thing Brad will never do is backdown from something he says eg "telling Woosha in 2010 he was about as close to a Premiership as he (Hardie) was to getting to Mars".

Hardie has also kept quite his belief around trade time 2011 & earlier this season that we had paid way overs for Mitch Clark and he wasn't worth that sort of money

PSD I forgot to look did you have the perfect weekend result?

[old dee 24,028]

Money-wise, of course. There'll be a line at which Harrington/Schwab/Neeld will drop out.

But 5 years? That's doable IMO.

I was hoping you would give me a figure

Now i know that is pinning you down.

But any idea?

[Range Rover 1,935]

I was hoping you would give me a figure

Now i know that is pinning you down.

But any idea?

I'm no expert but it would have to be in the vicinity of $5m for 5 years to get a look in you'd think.

Perhaps they should offer 4.5m over 5 as a starting bid, with a 100k-200k bonus for every year we make the 8 within those 5 seasons.

I'm a fan of incentives in contracts.

I would fold my cards and leave the table at 1.1m per season.

[DemonWA 3,940]

PSD I forgot to look did you have the perfect weekend result?

the falcons/royals match was a draw i believe

[DemonWA 3,940]

.

You can only be optimistic and look forward with confidence.

you have to move on and hope you get them right next time. Who knows? We might trade them.

For two people that had such differing opinions last year (#31), you're deffinatley singing of the same hym sheet this time!

[olisik 4,060]

Get Cloke

Our mids will be fine with Grimes, Trengove, Viney, Blease, Mckenzie, Draft #4, Draft#12 in the next 5 years. If we get someone else on big coin one of those guys wouldn't make the first 22 and honestly i dont see us making big gains.

Our forward line will have obvious gaps soon with Watts down back, Jurrah being always injured, Howe missing goals and also playing on the wing.

[DemonWA 3,940]

Our mids will be fine with Grimes, Trengove, Viney, Blease, Mckenzie, Draft #4, Draft#12 in the next 5 years. If we get someone else on big coin one of those guys wouldn't make the first 22 and honestly i dont see us making big gains.

you put faith in a future pick #12, but have no faith in Lucas cook to come good?

[beelzebub 23,390]

it seems odd that anyone is even entertaining the notion of ANY player for 5 years. A lot can go wrong in 5 years.

Wouldnt go past 4 ...even thats dicey.

[old55 23,847]

There have been a number of 5 year contracts, GC/GWS/FA have changed the landscape:

Selwood, Deledio, Hurley, Reid

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/threat-from-two-new-afl-clubs-and-introduction-of-free-agency-sees-long-term-contracts-back-in-fashion/story-e6frf3e3-1226311229707

[mauriesy 7,429]

Not to mention $cully for 6.

[Range Rover 1,935]

Alistair Lynch - 10!

[beelzebub 23,390]

There have been a number of 5 year contracts, GC/GWS/FA have changed the landscape:

Selwood, Deledio, Hurley, Reid

http://www.foxsports...3-1226311229707

Just because some exist for mine doesnt equate to any overwhelming desire to replicate.

Too much can change in 5 years.

[DEE fence 5,050]

I reckon our mids will develop and yes we top up with some good picks. The thing with TC is you can't train to be that size and that's why he will get the big bickies (I remember Miller's breakout game and thought 'great as long as we can teach him to kick straight', something sadly that never happened despite the great marking ability) Travis is a better kick than Miller, and Neitz had his off days (always needed the 1st couple to go through) so for me its all about the fact that he is a coordinated mountain, pay him heaps he's worth it.

And in response I agree in a perfect world we'd have a under 18's and a great zone (which we never did, and was one of the causes our slump in the 70's) and we would look like the Geelong Falcons etc, and develop our own talent except this is never going to happen. Cook and Cloke are not mutually exclusive either.

[Macca 17,120]

Thought that we've been into Travis Cloke ever since the "Get your hands off our players" quote from EE some months back . I think we might be able to 'Front end' his contract (like we did with Clark?) so as to not effect our ability to pay our players more equitably post 2013 . GWS did it with T$ .

If you take into account that 24 of our players are out of contract then there could be a decent amount of room in our cap next year . A big wad of cash in his 1st year is a huge inducement . Any player would love a big front ended contract . A bird in the hand .............

And he immediately adds wins to our team . If Cook and McDonald come on in leaps and bounds then we end up with a nice problem . You've got to take your chances when they come your way .

Obviously there is the Neeld connection as well and right now we have a vacancy at CHF . I've made up my mind - go get him !

[Sir Why You Little 37,341]

I can't believe the negative comments towards Cloke!!

Our coach spent time with him in 2 GF tilts. One being successful.

Cloke and Clark would be great.

Gotta spend $$ to win flags these days.

Train up the mids with continued youth injections.

If people do not want Cloke, who should we target? At present we struggle to kick 10 goals a game.

[beelzebub 23,390]

Some people are possibly miscontruing negativity with reality...or priority. Timing is everything.