Collingwood defender Harry O’Brien is backing premiership teammate Travis Cloke’s decision to take his time in his high-profile contract negotiations with the AFL’s competition leaders.
Cloke, 25, is chasing a five-year deal.
The 2011 All-Australian forward says he wants to stay with the Magpies but he has been offered a long-term deal to move to Fremantle, worth about $1 million per season.
On the eve of Saturday’s round-14 clash with Fremantle at the MCG, O’Brien dismissed suggestions the match would be a chance for the Magpies to show which club Cloke should play with for the rest of his career.
But O’Brien was quick to describe Collingwood as the yardstick of the country’s sporting teams.
“Every time we represent the Collingwood Football Club — whether it’s at training or playing — that’s a good enough reason to know why it holds the esteem as being the pinnacle of Australian sport,” Brazillian-born O’Brien told reporters on Friday.
“He (Cloke) is very important. He’s our centre-half forward.
“He’s the best contested mark in the league and he has been for the last few years, so yeah he’s a very important player.
“I’m out of contract too so I’m in the same boat. I don’t want to rush into decisions also.
“I can understand where he’s coming from.”
Earlier this week coach Nathan Buckley had made a thinly-veiled reference to his star forward, saying a salary-cap squeeze could force the Magpies to cut a senior player.
Cloke on Thursday said he was simply trying to get the best deal for himself and he didn’t expect that would lead to a teammate being shown the door.
“We’re not holding Collingwood to (ransom) saying ‘You’ve got to give me five years, you’ve got to give me X amount of money or I’m walking’,” Cloke told the Nine Network.
Ben Reid, Dayne Beams, Sharrod Wellingham and Tyson Goldsack are among the Collingwood players coming out of contract later this year.
“Most players make a move to gain more money,” said O’Brien, a veteran of 147 games.
“That could be the case if I was to make a move but I want to spend my whole football career at Collingwood and I plan to do so.”