Cloke vs T'hawk

[Darkdayz]

You know what the difference is... Hawkins is all about the team and what he can do for the team.
Cloke is all about Travis Cloke, and how much he can justify the pay check he wants. I mean the amount of times he goes off at team mates for not going to him and the general sook he seems to have when things dont go his way. I mean example Petrie runs half a field to spoil Seedmans vs cloke having a sook because he gave away a free kick in the square.
I honestly feel that moving him on isnt the worse idea in history. Because honestly he doesnt deserve what hes currently on let alone what he is asking for. 1 good year 1 promising year does not equal a 5 year 800k/y paycheck.

 

[TradeDraft]

All Forwards are better then that big Dud Cloke

 

[danielnajdek]

I'd take Petrie,Robbie Tarrant or Hanson over this over rated money hungry flog.

 

[Knightmare]

Cloke at his best is the better player. Hawkins this year is clearly the better player and should be finish in the All Australian team this year.

Cloke is the better centre half forward and does more things well but as a deep forward Hawkins is the more dominant and bigger presence.

Cloke is by far the stronger field mark and contested mark and has the far greater running ability, endurance and tackling ability. Hawkins is still a below average overhead but due to his sheer size is monstering opposition key defenders week after week and just uses his body so well regularly outbodying them to get into strong marking position contest after contest which allows him to be so dominant.


Start a team now and choose your key forward Cloke is probably the slightly better choice (forgetting money) considering he is more proven and likely will get back to his better form from next year. The query with Hawkins is that he only this year and last finals series really established himself after years and years of mediocrity so there still need to be questions asked as to whether Hawkins can season after season replicate this form and whether teams will eventually "figure out how to play him" as they seemingly have with Cloke this season by doubling him when playing deep or whether he will eventually lose confidence again and regress some.

But after this year though it is a valid question as to whether you take Hawkins before Cloke and I suggest there is very little seperation now between the two which one year ago would have been laughable which really is a credit to Hawkins and the development he has shown over these past 12 months and the confidence he has gained.

My top 5 key forwards right now:
1. Franklin
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2. Cloke
3. Hawkins
4. J.Riewoldt
5. Kennedy (assuming healthy)
*Pavlich/Petrie and co on immediate impact would be up here but at their ages probably not ideal guys to build around.
*Jeremy Cameron very soon I suspect will pass Cloke/Riewoldt/Hawkins/Kennedy by but still needs another 2-3 years.