Collingwood have dramatically shelved distracting contract talks surrounding key forward Travis Cloke.

The Magpies said on Tuesday they had put all contract negotiations with Cloke on hold until the end of the 2012 AFL season.

Cloke is in the centre of a $1 million tug-of-war between Collingwood, Melbourne and Fremantle but the Magpies have decided the headline-grabbing saga is beginning to have an effect on the team.

Collingwood football director Geoff Walsh said the move was made “with the interests of the club and Travis in mind.”

Walsh, said that “by removing the potential for distraction from the agenda of both club and player a firm focus could continue to be brought to the remainder of the season.”

“The season at hand is everyone’s priority,” Walsh said.

“And, having considered all of the circumstances, it seemed the most sensible and appropriate course to suspend our negotiations until the season has been played out.”

The out-of-form forward is fielding offers of $1 million a season from the Demons and Dockers while Collingwood are also trying to tie up key players Sharrod Wellingham, Harry O’Brien and Tyson Goldsack.

Magpies coach Nathan Buckley on Tuesday refused to rule out the prospect of dropping Cloke and fellow struggling spearhead Chris Dawes for the match against Greater Western Sydney on Saturday.

The duo have managed only 22 goals between them in their past eight matches.

“We haven’t had match committee yet,” Buckley said. “Every one of the 22 players that played is under some sort of pressure, as is the rest of the club.

“We need to perform better than we did. We are looking to remedy that as soon as this week.”

Magpies skipper Nick Maxwell has called for Cloke to be given some leeway as he deals with the contract issue.

“I think that when anyone’s not playing their best footy, they tend to read things and hear things and it becomes hard,” Maxwell said.

“I challenge anyone to go through what Trav has been going through this year and to be coming out and playing his best footy.”

However Maxwell said Cloke and Dawes were certain to return to peak form soon.

He said their work-rate had stepped up but also said other team members needed to help, claiming the delivery of the ball into the forward line has been less than perfect.

“Travis ran something like 15km on the weekend with his GPS so that shows it’s not a workrate thing,” Maxwell said.

“I just think what we can do is actually look after them a lot better when we are going inside 50 and use the ball a lot better when we’re kicking it to them.

“There are things that we’ve gone through in our review and there’s definitely things that we want to put in place going forward to try and help that situation.”

It is understood Cloke is chasing a five-year deal with the Magpies and is asking for more than $800,000 a season.

But Buckley has reminded out-of-contract players the club has little room to move within its salary cap next season.

Defender Ben Reid is also out of contract this year, opening up the possibility of him being lured by a big salary to a rival club.