There are few higher tributes that can be paid to a footballer than to be voted their team’s best player in a finals series.

That says you stand up when it matters most - when the battle is at its fiercest and the stakes are highest. There is no better measure of a player’s ability to play well in big games.

At Collingwood, the trophy for Best Player in a Finals Series is named after one of our greatest figures, Bob Rose. The award itself was first presented as early as 1926, and Rose’s name was added to it in 1988. It has been won by many of the club’s biggest names, including Syd Coventry, the Collier brothers, Len Thompson, Des Tuddenham, Nathan Buckley, Gavin Brown, Peter Daicos, Scott Pendlebury and Dane Swan.

With the Pies back in September action again, it seems like the perfect time to pay tribute to some of those who have won this award over the years.

To see more on the Bob Rose Award, including a full list of winners, check out the page on Collingwood Forever.

It was almost the perfect full stop to one of the best breakout seasons from a Collingwood player in modern times.

Travis Cloke was only 20 when he took the 2007 season - his third overall - by the scruff of the neck and stamped himself on the AFL competition.

The fact he did it playing as a power forward was even more meritorious. His form during the home-and-away season - which ultimately led to Copeland Trophy success – translated to the finals - giving him the distinction of winning the best-and-fairest and the best finals player in the same year.

He had played all 22 regular season games for the first time and his "watershed" year, as the Herald Sun called it, carried into the Magpies' three finals matches.

Interviewed before his first final, against Sydney in the Elimination Final at the MCG, he admitted to some nerves, but said some private conversations with his father David, who played finals for Richmond and Collingwood, left him feeling a little easier about what was in store.

"He's said to just enjoy myself ... finals don't come along every year, so try to make the most of it," Cloke said of his father's advice. "He just said to try and do what I've been doing all year, and to try to take that extra step."

"To be playing for one of the biggest clubs in the AFL is so good. I can't wait ... to feel the Collingwood supporters behind us, singing and yelling and screaming."

More imposing in frame than in his first two seasons, Cloke said his body transformation and maturity had played a significant role in his outstanding 2007 season. It had been the first year he played at Collingwood without his brothers Jason and Cameron, who had been moved on.



Paul Medhurst and Travis Cloke celebrate a goal against West Coast in the 2007 Semi-Final.

All three Clokes had chosen Collingwood over Richmond in the father-son rule.

"In my first year I was a bit hesitant of throwing my body around," Travis said.

"I was not sure what I could take and what I couldn't. I think I am a lot more understanding of what I can and cannot do."

Almost 65,000 turned out for the clash with the Swans, and Cloke combined perfectly with fellow forwards Anthony Rocca and Sean Rusling, kicking 12 goals between them from the Magpies' tally of 18. Rocca scored half a dozen, while Cloke and Rusling scored three each.

Cloke had 18 disposals in the game, took nine marks and had seven inside 50s - a strong return for his maiden final.

The Magpies kicked six goals to one in the first term, but in a late surge in the third term the Swans had cut the margin back to 28 points and it seemed as if they were coming. Enter Cloke, in the first minute of play in the last term, who made the most of a ruck mistake from Peter Everitt, to kick a steadier, and his third goal.

Rocca praised Cloke's role, saying: "it's a tough thing to do ... you've got to create as much room as possible by blocking for each other and moving around."

The next final was never going to be as easy. It came in the form of a semi-final against West Coast in Perth, and it would end up in an extra-time thriller.

Cloke had 21 disposals and kicked 1.3. His crucial goal late in the third term breathed some life into the Magpies. He had used his body well, deep in attack, from a kick from Alan Didak, and ran around on his left boot to score. The margin was back to only four points at the last change.

Then, in extra time, Cloke produced a memorable moment that helped guarantee the game for the Magpies. Leading by six points, with 90 seconds left, a superb tap-on from Cloke in the centre square set up the match-winning major.

His tap trickled out to Marty Clarke, who chipped the ball forward to a loose Scott Pendlebury. He ran into an open goal, and it was the sealer before moments later Dane Swan put the "icing on a Black and White cake", according to Dennis Cometti.

That left Collingwood with a tough task of taking on the year's best team, Geelong, in a preliminary final.

Far from overawed, the Magpies - and Cloke - rose to the occasion magnificently. Before 98,000 fans, the two teams fought out an epic contest before Geelong finally prevailed by five points, which had been the margin at the two previous breaks.

Cloke had almost pinched the game for his team. He brought the Magpies to within two points halfway through the third quarter then his goal at the start of the last briefly gave Collingwood the lead.

In the end, he had 15 disposals, grasped 13 marks and kicked three crucial goals in the Magpies' five-point loss.

In the shattered Magpie rooms after the game, Nathan Buckley, who had already decided to retire but hadn't made it official, would say of Cloke: "The development in him has been exceptional ... I think he's the best tackler in our side."

Mike Sheahan said in the Herald Sun that Cloke had "super hands, is athletic, mobile and durable, and brave."

That was only Cloke’s 55th game.

There were to be some big performances ahead, and some special finals moments to come (who could forget the goal that helped to bring about the Grand Final draw three years later!)

But those who saw him during that Collingwood's audacious 2007 season - and during the finals series - knew they had played witness to the unearthing of a star.