The "art" of player to coach relationship

[BazBoy]

Reading Travis Cloke chat and his saying he has had enough of playing VFL
then reading the chat Nathan had with Jeremy Howe on his need to have him
play back even tho NB had said to Jeremy he would play him forward.

Jeremy appeared to understand the coach needs and went on to play his best
game against Geelong.

I am appreciative of Clokes performance for us & hope he also understands
Nathans need to have the best balance

After its a team and I would like to think all players put their preference
behind team loyalty

[Raw Hammer]

Taken out of context and tone. Of course he's sick of playing VFL. He SHOULD be sick of playing VFL.

[melliot]

Cloke is one of my favs. But Cloke hasn't done himself any favors by saying what he did on RSN.

I'd suggest he shut up and work hard at playing the best he can at VFL. He hasn't exactly starred at VFL. In fact you would say 1 good game and 1 other that was ok. The rest hasn't been AFL recall worthy.

He just doesn't seem to be getting to contests often enough. Not sure if that is his problem or it's his instruction.

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

It's all about the team, not individuals. Howe came to Collingwood because he wanted to play wing or forward on the ground. Buckley accommodated his wishes but we were losing, so Buckley had a rethink and asked Howe if he minded resuming his half back role at Melbourne. He played half back in the Carlton game and played well so Buckley has played him at half back as well the last two games. If you asked players if they prefer playing in their favourite position with the result being the side loses, or playing in their least favourite position resulting in the side winning, I think all players would choose the latter option. With Cloke it's a little different because I think the best chance of us winning is by Cloke playing that tall marking forward role in the forward line. He just has to find form in the VFL to justify picking him in the senior side.

[Darkstranger]

What a beat up this Cloke story is, I took it in the context that he knows he needs to improve and that he is keen to get back to the first but understands his current situation????

[Bob Sugar]

Yep, he should've said he was glad he was dropped and loved playing VFL.

[Bucks2014]

"I was p---ed off, that's the best way to put it," Cloke told RSN radio.
Advertisement

"I understand [Nathan Buckley] is the coach, he makes the call for the team, not the individual. I've copped it on the chin and gone back and really worked on my footy the last few weeks."

A forthright Cloke still believes he has what it takes to turn his career around and get back to playing good football at the highest level.

"If I don't get my chance this week, I'll go back, train as hard as I can this week and get myself right for the following week," he said.

"I haven't gone back and sooked and whinged about the situation.

"I'm hanging to get back into the senior side, that's for sure, I've had enough of VFL football."

The power forward, who's now into his 12th season, has kicked 429 goals in 237 senior games.

He had his best game yet in the VFL, kicking four goals last weekend.

Clearly devastated at being dropped, Cloke admits he didn't fully accept the reasons that Buckley gave when the coach explained why he was being demoted.

"I didn't accept it, no, but I could probably see where he was coming from," Cloke said.

"He said I wasn't probably hard enough in the contest which didn't really resonate well with me, I wasn't very happy with it."

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/travis-cloke-im-not-leaving-collingwood-20160525-gp3652.html#ixzz49klXYENH
Follow us: @theage on Twitter | theageAustralia on Facebook