David Cloke has slammed Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley and the side'sย midfield for the demise of his son Travis at the Magpies.
Cloke said Travis is flying at the Western Bulldogs, and put that down to coach Luke Beveridge and the Dogs' game plan.
โItโs the style of game under Buckley,โ Cloke said.
โThe Bulldogs run and carry, Collingwood donโt run and carry the ball.
โAnd it goes back to the coach. Iโve heard people say leave Bucks alone, that itโs the players... well, itโs not.
โHeโs the head coach, heโs in charge of it.
โHeโs got rid of all the players who wanted to run and carry the ball. He got rid of Heath Shaw. He got rid of Harry OโBrien. Nick Maxwell retired and they never replaced them with players who ran and carried the ball.
โThe thing is, Travis has got a coach whoโs got a game style which wants to get the ball into the forward line.
Cloke believes the same thing will happen with current Collingwood key forward Darcy Moore, as Buckley's system will continue to go against Moore.
โWhereas at Collingwood... and theyโre doing the same with Darcy Moore now.
โThey will destroy him because they have a game style which revolves around their midfielders getting high possessions, but donโt get the ball into their forward half.
โLast year, everyone wanted to say it was Travisโ fault, but a forward in todayโs football canโt do any good if the side is not getting the ball in properly.โ
After opting out of his final year at the Magpies, Cloke was traded to the Bulldogs last year for pick 76, and has started the season strongly with four goals.
โHeโs happy now. Heโs getting a game, heโs doing what they wanted him to do, itโs working well and heโs got a coach who has shown confidence in him,โ he said.
โThey got him, they wanted him to play a role they needed him to play for them.
โAll Collingwood has concentrated on is getting a midfield, getting all these players in the midfield.
โWhat they need to do is get a game plan which tries to win games of football.
โEveryone says have a look at their mighty midfield, but they donโt get the ball into the forward half quickly enough, they donโt get it in directly enough and when they do get it in, they have to go so wide and players are missing shots.
โThe mids get it and blast away. They donโt man up, they donโt go defensive. Who runs the ball out of the back half?โ
