Does anyone want Collingwood star Travis Cloke? Jon Anderson
From: Herald Sun
August 04, 2012 GREATER Western Sydney shares pole position with Collingwood in the end-of-season race for Travis Cloke.
The Giants have the cash, the room in their salary cap and, judging by recent comments, the inclination to offer 25-year-old Cloke a five-year contract without a strong emphasis on performance-based stipulations.
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The reality is six clubs, including Collingwood, remain in the race for Cloke. The Magpies are favourites because Cloke is still their player and club insiders remain confident a deal will be done.
At Fremantle he would be sharing those duties with Matthew Pavlich and Nathan Fyfe, but if he became a Blue captain Chris Judd would remain numero uno.
Melbourne has made no secret of its interest while Richmond remains an interested onlooker.
The reality is six clubs, including Collingwood, remain in the race for Cloke. The Magpies are favourites because Cloke is still their player and club insiders remain confident a deal will be done.
But can Melbourne offer Cloke any realistic guarantee of finals success before he retires? Unlikely.
Alternatively, Richmond has more finals potential and Cloke's father David was a dual premiership player for the club in 1974 and 1980.
The problem for the Tigers would be bringing a player in on $850,000 and in doing so upsetting young stars such as Brett Deledio, Jack Riewoldt and Trent Cotchin.
Cotchin went some way to answering that recently when replying in the positive as to whether he would like to see Cloke at Richmond.
Like all players, Cotchin seeks a premiership and knows acquiring Cloke would bring that a lot closer to fruition.The 12 clubs not in the hunt for Cloke have a variety of reasons for ignoring him, such as salary cap restrictions in the case of Adelaide to an abundance of tall forwards at Essendon.
The Brisbane Lions, still hurting from the Brendan Fevola fiasco, has set their sights on Adelaide's Kurt Tippett in an effort to lure the Gold Coast boy home on significantly less money than Cloke is asking.
Geelong is happy to go with young forwards such as Tom Hawkins, Nathan Vardy and Josh Walker, Hawthorn has Buddy Franklin and Jarryd Roughead who are the same age as Cloke (25), and a promising 20-year-old in 193cm Jack Gunston.
North Melbourne, like Geelong, is focused on developing young key forwards in Tom Curran, Majak Daw, Lachlan Hansen, Cam Pedersen and Robbie Tarrant.
Sydney recently signed up Sam Reid for five years, although the Swans enjoyed success with Barry Hall and Tony Lockett in similar roles.
Brian Taylor, who kicked 100 goals with Collingwood in 1986, is a Cloke fan but said he performs best when playing alongside at least one other tall forward.
"Because he works so hard and leads up the ground so hard, he is someone who creates space for those behind him," Taylor said.
For Collingwood, Chris Dawes and Leigh Brown were the beneficiaries in 2010-11.
"You could imagine it working at Richmond with Jack Riewoldt and possibly Tyrone Vickery." CLOKE PROS1: Best contested mark in the game.
2: Capable of kicking 70 goals in a season.
3: Extraordinary work ethic for a 196cm and 108kg athlete
4: Knows what it takes to win finals.
5: Good person within a club environment.
CLOKE CONS1: High wages can create unrest from within.
2: Inconsistency has been part of his career.
3: Why do it unless a premiership is within five years?
4: How long as he got left given the nature of his role?
5: Does he embrace leadership and responsibility?
WHO WANTS TRAVIS CLOKE?ADELAIDE
"We haven't discussed it at this time." - chief executive Stephen Trigg.
Jon Anderson's rates the probability that they are interested in Cloke: No
BRISBANE LIONS
"We are pretty comfortable with our young list but will look at free agency at the back end of the season." - communications general manager Dave Donaghy
Probability: No
CARLTON
"He's still at Collingwood. If he decides to leave Collingwood we would be interested to talk with him." - chief executive Greg Swann.
Probability: Yes
ESSENDON
"I can understand why clubs are interested in Travis but he isn't a priority for us. We are pretty strong in the tall areas and recently signed (Michael) Hurley and (Paddy) Ryder to long-term deals." - chief executive Ian Robson.
Probability: No
FREMANTLE
"We will speak to a range of player managers about the contract status of a number of players who are on the AFL's free agency list." - club spokesperson.
Probability: Yes
GEELONG
"No interest at this stage given we have Tom Hawkins, James Podsiadly, Nathan Vardy, Josh Walker and Mitch Brown."- chief executive Brian Cook.
Probability: No
GOLD COAST
"While we won't comment on individual players, we are committed to continuing to strengthen our list. But that won't be to the detriment of the elite young talent we currently have on our list."- list strategy manager Scott Clayton.
Probability: No
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY
"What 'Sheeds' (Coach Kevin Sheedy) said reflects our position. If circumstances have changed since earlier in the year then we are obligated to have a look."- chief executive David Matthews.
Probability: Yes
HAWTHORN
Refused to comment
Probability: No
MELBOURNE:
"Our club doesn't comment about player contracts." - media manager Ryan Larkin.
Probability: Yes
NORTH MELBOURNE
"The only time we become interested in an opposition player is when he's left his club and Travis hasn't done that and I don't think he will. But we are blessed with a number of key position players." - coach Brad Scott.
Probability: No
PORT ADELAIDE
"Travis is a very good player and I'm sure every club would love to have him on their list but he is not a high priority for us at this stage." - football manager Peter Rohde.
Probability: No
RICHMOND
"We will look at any player who we feel, all things considered, can improve our list and continue to take this club forward." - chief executive Brendon Gale.
Probability: YesST KILDA
"We don't intend pursuing Travis at this stage." - head of football Chris Pelchen.
Probability: No
SYDNEY
"We don't get caught up talking about players from other clubs." - coach John Longmire.
Probability: No
WEST COAST
"We don't discuss our recruiting strategy with anyone publicly." - communications manager Gary Stock.
Probability: No
WESTERN BULLDOGS
"Our number one philosophy is to draft, develop and retain our own, however, we will always look at other mechanisms to enhance our list. Having said that, were not in the mix to secure Travis's services." - list manager Jason McCartney.
Probability: No
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