COLLINGWOOD spearhead Travis Cloke has employed the services of six-time Australian ironman champion Trevor Hendy in a bid to improve his goal kicking.
The Pies forward has always struggled with his accuracy in front of goal and last year he managed just 39 goals for the season – his lowest return since 2010.
His shot-at-goal accuracy has steadily declined since 2012, dropping from 63.4 per cent to 56.5 over the past three seasons.
With technique less of an issue, it has been the mental aspect of goal kicking that has held Cloke back in recent years.
The 28-year-old told SEN it was an area of his game he was working hard to rectify.
"I'm putting a lot of hours into my goal kicking, it's been an area of my game that has let me down for many years," Cloke said on Thursday.
"I think last year we made some inroads so I've just been continuing on with the right people and working away from the football club still to improve my mental state going into shots and I think I'm getting somewhere."
Away from the Westpac centre, Cloke has sought guidance from former ironman Hendy, who now works as a life coach, specialising in personal truth and wellness, to help him master his mind.
"It's not necessarily getting out on the track and doing a lot of hours, it's actually sitting down, visualisation, just thinking about the little key areas of my goal kicking and working from there," Cloke said.
"I'm working with Trevor Hendy really closely at the moment. He's obviously got a really good background with sport, and he's being doing a lot on wellbeing so I'm really enjoying working with him.
"That's the area of my game I'm trying to work on most."
Cloke, who has returned to the training track in 2015 a few kilograms lighter, said this pre-season was his most enjoyable yet.
The Magpies kick off their NAB Challenge campaign in less than a month with Hawthorn their first opponents on February 26.
