Buckley: What about Trav?

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COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley last night questioned the umpire's treatment of his key forward Travis Cloke who had another miserable night under the MCG lights.

Buckley said he believed there were a couple of sets of rules "out there at the moment" and Cloke was getting umpired to one set and everyone else to another.

"But he has to fight through that and I thought he stuck to his task," Buckley said.

Asked whether the rule changes were supposed to suit Cloke.

"It wasn't meant for him.

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"In the end the umpire is the umpire and it's a tough job and they make some blues and we make some blues, players make some blues. Cloke has just got to push through it."

Travis Cloke was held goalless in game 200. Picture: Alex Coppel. Source: News Corp Australia

Celebrating his 200th game, Cloke again failed to kick a goal for the third time this season.

He has kicked just two goals for the season _ in one game.

Despite the ball going into Collingwood's forward 50m zone 52 times, Cloke finished the game with just two behinds in his team's impressive victory over Richmond.

Buckley said it wasn't a night for big, mark forwards, but he rated Cloke's work rate as consistent.

The Magpie coach also singled out Brent Macaffer for special treatment as the forward turned star tagger claimed another big scalp. This time he restricted Richmond captain Trent Cotchin to just 13 disposals.

He said he is just getting better in his new role and said he hadn't used a tagger in the past because the team didn't have one.

"Now we do," Buckley said.

Brent Macaffer limited Trent Cotchin to 13 disposals Picture: Wayne Ludbey. Source: News Corp Australia

He said Macaffer was at the crossroads at the end of 2011 and he sat down with him and they had a heart-to-heart.

"I had coached him as a forward coach through 2010 and saw what he was capable of and I thought he'd just dropped off a little in his professionalism through 2011 and he wasn't favoured and didn't play as much footy.

"But he has made a real shift and a decision that he wants to take his profession as far as he possibly can."

Buckley said Macaffer wrote of the 2012 season after injuring his knee in the NAB Cup.

He said his concentration to stick to his task against the league's best ball winners had been huge.

"And he is getting better and better at it game by game," Buckley said.

"So it's a strength of his character which is getting it done and his commitment to his craft. He is a good footballer but he has now seen something he can own and something that he can contribute to team with and he is running with it."

Buckley was also happy with the improved performance of Dane Swan and said he'd spoken to him during the week about some KPIs he had to produced when the ball wasn't in his hands.

"And he met them tonight and that was the most impressive thing about his performance," he said.