Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has vowed to poach the best young AFL talent at Fremantle should the Dockers succeed in their audacious attempt to recruit Magpies’ spearhead Travis Cloke to the Perth-based club.
Speaking prior to the Magpies clash with the Dockers at the MCG, McGuire said he would declare “war” on Fremantle if they grabbed Cloke at the end of the season.
He said Collingwood would look to recruit Fremantle’s best 22 and 23-year-olds to Collingwood in revenge for a successful raid on Cloke.
It was revealed earlier on Saturday that the Dockers, who lured former St Kilda coach Ross Lyon to the club at the beginning of this year in a move that shocked the league, were interested in the 25-year-old power forward.
Cloke has been in protracted negotiations with Collingwood all year.
It is believed the Dockers are prepared to offer Cloke up to $5 million for a five-year deal.
Prior to the game, Lyon confirmed Fremantle’s interest in Cloke. He labelled the forward a “special footballer, a hard working player.”
“We are in the market place,” Lyon declared on radio station Triple M, before saying his players would “appreciate” a player of Cloke’s ability at their club.
But McGuire said the Magpies were in “fierce negotiations” with a number of players.
“We do negotiations all day, every day. We’ll continue our negotiations. The Cloke one’s a big one. The Fremantle Dockers are into him offering plenty of money and all that sort of stuff.
“That’s fine, that’s what they’re there to do. They’re a competitive side.”
But McGuire fired back that his club would target the Dockers’ young guns if Cloke did head west.
“And first port of call will be Fremantle, don’t worry about that. You think I’m joking don’t you? I’m not joking. I’m not joking, I promise you.”
McGuire also had a minor warning for Cloke, suggesting the club would not be held to ransom by one player and would be able to replace any player that chose to leave the club.
“No one person dominates the Collingwood Football Club,” he said.