Travis Cloke has revealed he had his car smashed and graffitied prior to leaving Collingwood for the Western Bulldogs.
Cloke, a dual All-Australian and premiership player in 2010, left the Magpies at the end of 2016 after kicking 441 goals in 246 games across 12 seasons.
The forward joined the Bulldogs in exchange for pick No.76 with a year to run on his Collingwood contract.
Cloke decided to leave his Richmond home due to having his car continually vandalised.
“When you wake up in the morning and someone has graffitied your car or smashed your window and left a note saying, ‘Leave the club’ and then within a few months you go, ‘Maybe it’s worth selling up and moving’, so that’s what I actually did in the end,” he told SEN’s This Is Your Sporting Life thanks to Tobin Brothers Funerals.
“I relocated suburbs; I went from Richmond to Kew. I bought a more secure house. That became a priority at the time.
“Let’s just say HSV that sponsored me at the time weren’t very happy when I had to bring a car down every month with a broken windscreen or window.
“It really made me make decisions in life about what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go.
“I always knew I wanted to play at Collingwood, that wasn’t an option, but it was just fine tuning a few things that gave me a bit of stability.
“Financially I sacrificed a lot to stay at the Pies, and no one ever talks about that. And also, in that last year, I forfeited the fifth year in my contract to do what was best for the club, and that’s why I went to the Dogs.
“I wanted to try something new, I wanted to try something exciting and find the love for footy once again – I couldn’t – but at least I can say that I tried everything in my football career to reinvent myself.”
Cloke kicked 11 goals in 10 games in his one and only season at Whitten Oval.
The 34-year-old called time on his 256-game career at the end of 2017.
Tune into This Is Your Sporting Life with Sam Edmund this Sunday from 10am AEST.