IT'S HARD not to feel sympathy for the position Travis Cloke finds himself in once again.

Dropped for the third time this season after a performance that lacked intensity against Richmond he is at the lowest point in his illustrious career.

It would be a hard time for him and those close to him.

Turning 30 next season and with the game not appearing to move in his favour, it would be easy to think he will deliver more of the same in the final year of his contract next year.

A change might be necessary, to either a club that has a young forward line requiring a battering ram or to a club in contention who thinks he could win them a big final.

If suitors exist, no-one would blame the 29-year-old for seeking a fresh start.

But the path that might seem harder now is the better one. 

Cloke should back himself to rediscover what made him great at the club in which he made his name.

Here's the plan if that eventuates.

Get as fit as possible so that big tank can roam far, wide and high.

Stop worrying about goals or shots at goal and take on a linkman role with the sole performance criteria of creating a contest or a get-out option.

The Magpies' greatest strength is their work at ground level, around the contest. With Cloke hitting the logos on the wing time after time, he will have a swarm of runners feeding off him.

Push Mason Cox deep, let Jamie Elliott and Alex Fasolo play either high half-forward roles or crumb Cox and get behind opposition defenders.

Darcy Moore can be a lead-up forward with his starting positions changing depending on the set-up around him and a pressure forward such as Jarryd Blair can lead the tackle count every week.

Cloke's goals won't count. His missed shots at goal won't matter. He can use his left foot when in possession (he has four kicks for every handball) and his bulk when not.

His ability to hit contests hard will be crucial when opponents are looking around for him as they do for Greater Western Sydney's Shane Mumford.

And his running will blow up defenders who attach themselves to him.

To do all that he will need to regain fitness, intensity and confidence one step at a time.

This will be hard because it's difficult to determine how Cloke must be feeling.

He won a best and fairest at 21 in 2007. He led a team to a flag in 2010, his goal in the dying minutes of the drawn Grand Final crucial.

He put the Magpies in the 2011 Grand Final with his last quarter in that year's preliminary final. He then began the decider like he was Royce Hart and would finish third in the club best and fairest that season.  

He has been one of the biggest names at the game's biggest club from the moment he walked in the door.

With Nathan Brown, Jarryd Blair, Alan Toovey and Brent Macaffer still unsigned, Dane Swan's future uncertain, Cloke is along with Scott Pendlebury, Ben Reid and Steele Sidebottom one of the last left of an era that won a flag at the Magpies.

Staying the course may not be the popular theory but it will be the one that allows him to leave a legacy when his time eventually comes.

Cloke is not gone. He has a role to play at Collingwood and a chance to accept it in 2017.