TRAVIS Cloke is no certainty to slot straight back into the Collingwood line-up for Saturday’s clash with Carlton.
Cloke has served a two-match ban for striking Port Adelaide midfielder Travis Boak, but coach Mick Malthouse doesn’t consider him a walk-up start to face the Blues at the MCG.
“You pick the best side you can. You pick the best side - not on paper - but you pick the best side for Carlton. That may have Travis in it or that may not have Travis in it,” Malthouse said.
“I don’t make guarantees - not on a Wednesday.
“We’ve discussed our options and we will now need to get players through training. We’ve got a couple of blokes that we may or may not play depending on how they pull up from training and that may open the gate or it may not open the gate.”
Out-of-favour ruckman Josh Fraser remains in the mix to play his 200th AFL match, with Malthouse describing his VFL form as “OK”.
“Josh has been very close since he’s been back from his (ankle) injury,” he said.
“He’s been one of our emergencies for the last four or five weeks, I think, so I guess that tells you how close he is.”
Defender Heath Shaw will be assessed at training on Wednesday after a back injury forced him out of last week’s side.
Despite sitting atop the premiership ladder and coming off a mauling of Richmond, Malthouse there were many areas of the Pies’ game in which he would like to see improvement.
With five weeks before the start of the finals campaign, he dismissed the notion that his side may be peaking too early.
“The moment you start to take your foot off the accelerator you’re inviting disaster,” he said.
Saturday’s match is one of the most highly-anticipated encounters of each AFL season, but Malthouse played down its significance inside the club.
“It certainly has lost nothing with the supporters, but I think we’re in changing times and we have been for the last 10 to 15 years,” he said.
“I just think that players now come from all over Australia, sometimes outside of Australia, and the sense of occasion against Carlton, Essendon or whoever else really is not as dramatic as it was.
“I personally would like to think that they acknowledge the fact that we’re playing Carlton, a great rival of the past, but I am also very much aware that each player has his own sense of occasion. I’d be very disappointed, quite frankly, if they’re not as switched on for last week’s game and next week’s game as they are for this week’s game.”
Leon Davis becomes the first indigenous player to reach 200 games for the club on Saturday - an achievement Malthouse said was a source of pride for both player and club.
