COLLINGWOOD should retain troubled star Alan Didak beyond the 2008 season, according to Magpie centre-half forward Travis Cloke.

Cloke, who hit form with four goals on Friday night against Port Adelaide, told Melbourne radio station SEN that Didak should form a major part of Collingwood's push for a premiership in years to come.

"It'll be a bad move if they look at trading him (Didak).

"I want to achieve the greatest thing which is an AFL premiership and I think Alan Didak can help us achieve that," said the 2007 Best and Fairest winner.

Didak's off-field indiscretions culminated in the Magpie administration suspending the classy forward along with Heath Shaw until the end of the 2008 final series.

However Cloke looked to hose down any speculation that the pair would return for a tilt at September, pointing to the club's new direction regarding harsher penalties for poor player behaviour.

"They [the club] are setting the standard for the rest of the group.

"If it [the suspension] was overturned it would show the club wasn't going anywhere so I don't think it will be overturned; I think it will stay," Cloke explained.

The Magpies' leading big-man was also happy to act as a character reference for his embattled teammate, suggesting Didak deserves another chance and is valuable both on and off the field.

"He has had a couple of slip ups but not everyone is perfect. I get on pretty well with him … he's a great person.

"Alan Didak [would be] a key player to any team if they had him and for us to have him is an amazing thing," said Cloke.