They all said he was leaving Collingwood and quite a few Magpie fans told me he was as good as gone to Carlton.

However, it would seem that he will stay and sign a new five year contract with Collingwood in the next few days if we can believe the Herald Sun.

This still leaves them with some dilemmas apart from having the old man around the joint for the next half decade.

How do they pay their other uncontracted players going forward?

This is good news for Melbourne. The $ Cloke demands makes it much harder to re-sign guys like Goldsack and Wellingham. This is where we need to pounce. We've got draft picks and Stefan Martin as lures.

Similarly the story surrounding Goddard to Essendon is good news for us. They will also need to let loose a couple of their fringe players in order to find $ for him. Hopefully something worth pursuing breaks free. Not that I can think of one at the moment.

From what i saw of Wellingham during the finals he isnt worth 500-600k guys...

In a bad team he is no better than a Jones or Sylvia lets be honest and i would prefer if the club went after Goldsack who could really be a steal if we could nab him. If we get Sharrod as well fine but lets not trade heaven and earth for him he has a big name because he plays for Collingwood not because he is the next Gary Ablett Junior.

So how would people feel if we got Wellingham and Goldsack from the Pies for Martin + Pick/player, then signed gumbleton from Essendon, or worked a trade where we swapped Moloney for Gumbleton. To me that would be a good start to the trading/free agency for us.

So how would people feel if we got Wellingham and Goldsack from the Pies for Martin + Pick/player, then signed gumbleton from Essendon, or worked a trade where we swapped Moloney for Gumbleton. To me that would be a good start to the trading/free agency for us.

Don't think Essendon will trade for moloney when they can get him for free through FA. Plus, he's already left the club and they let him walk. Bit late to ask him to sign on just to trade him now.

Wouldn't mind gumbleton though

Gumbleton.......please.......are people serious. Why on earth would we want to recruit him?

Little known and seldom played, Luke Rounds appears to be the first victim of the fall out - Magpie 'open to trade'

hmmm Cat amongst Pidgeons . It must surely be impossible to retain all. Thats the Cap Obvious part

So if they retain Cloke then Lynch isnt going to be on their radar. ...

all becomes very 5 into 4 doesnt it... fun times ahead

What a joke if Melbourne offered cloke 7 mil for 7 years that's ablett territory he's worth no where near that much ! We could get 2 awesome mids for that, he misses more goals than he kicks anyway

Whether he's worth it or not is not the question here.

The point is we need him.

Obviously we'll have to offer more than he's worth or he's off to the Blues or Freo.

Huge coupe for Neeld and Melb if Cloke signs.

From what i saw of Wellingham during the finals he isnt worth 500-600k guys...

In a bad team he is no better than a Jones or Sylvia lets be honest and i would prefer if the club went after Goldsack who could really be a steal if we could nab him. If we get Sharrod as well fine but lets not trade heaven and earth for him he has a big name because he plays for Collingwood not because he is the next Gary Ablett Junior.

agree he's no better than a Sylvia or Jones. If he's as good that's good enough..get him!

Cloke will be in black & white anyway who cares

whether he's worth it or not is not the question here. the point is we need him. Obviously we'll have to offer more than he's worth or he's off to the Blues or Freo. Huge coupe for Neeld and Melb if Cloke signs.

Cloke will sign with the Maggies this week- 5 year deal...

Sadly dont think we where ever on his radar, but he might have been on our - such is life. Move on.

Cloke probably always wanted to stay at collingwood, they do have a pretty good side and this whole charade was about $$. Thankfully his staying with an even larger salary will help erode the side a little as they need to shed some other good players. Martin is a possible trade as they do need a big man backup for Jolly and they dont have a lot of cash to spare. Martin would fulfil that need quite well, what Martin does not do, the rest of the collingwood team does do, so they can manage with him quite well. Who knows they may get paranoid enough at collingwood to go for 2 more ruckman just to make sure, i just hope they take someone like hille.

The squeeze is on their fat little wallets. Loving it... and when they try to put that wallet in their pockets a few gems will squeeze out. Hopefully for a bargain basement price!

Remember when Essendon let got Blumfield, Heffernan and Caracella. They didn't want that, but it was pretty to watch.

As reported by Mark Robinson on twitter, Cloke signs a deal for five years between $3.75 and $4m

Now is the time to swoop on Sharrod, Goldsack, Luke Rounds.

The plot thickens.

Magpies pen new deals

Let the real games begin.

Not sure of the terms but it is likely to mean Wellingham is on the way out....

And people have said his father is a poor manager.

Dug in with the deal he wanted.

Wellingham will stay too.

He'll stay for success and the brand.

Good thats one big domino down. Hopefully the picture get clearer from here.

Wellingham will stay too.

He'll stay for success and the brand.

Disagree. They tried to offload him a few years ago. Players don't forget that. PLus they wont be able to afford to keep him.

Disagree. They tried to offload him a few years ago. Players don't forget that. PLus they wont be able to afford to keep him.

I hope so - I'm using reverse psychology on himself.

I'd love to have him in the red and blue.

As I stated earlier in the week--Colliwobbles did a backflip and have agreed to a 5 year deal.

Not to.