MAGPIE forward Travis Cloke says he's all too aware of scrutiny of his game, and in particular his kicking, but he tries to take the criticism in his stride.

"It's not that I don't pay attention to it," Cloke says, "it's more that I don't take a lot of it in.

"I realise that I need to right what I've done wrong. There's other people out there who are professionals in that area and seem to have an opinion so you listen to that but there's a lot of other people out there to put their own little bit in and I understand that.

"That's the great thing about AFL football; everyone's more than welcome to their opinion and their say on what I'm doing right or wrong."

Cloke says that after having a poor start to the season, new training techniques are improving his accuracy.

"Earlier in the year it was absolutely terrible and I'm the first person to admit that.

"Over the last month it's got better and I've spent a lot of time with Brian Taylor and Blake Caracella and I think we're on the right track at the moment of getting on top of it.

"The routine and the technique that we have at the moment seems to be working," Cloke says.

The 20-year-old revealed that his new approach focuses on the psychology behind his technique.

"Earlier in the year I thought about it too much and what I had to do but I think now it's more about relaxing and going through the basics, just focusing on what's got to be done and not what's going to happen if I miss.

"It's about getting simpler in my thinking processes."

Despite Cloke's kicking troubles, teammate Anthony Rocca has said that the youngster has the potential to be an even better player that his brother Sav was for the club. Cloke is reluctant about accepting any such plaudits just yet.

"Comments like that from a player like Anthony are definitely flattering but I think it's up to me if I move on and take that first step.

"I've taken a little one this year but there's still a lot more ways I need to improve my game to make me into a good player, let alone a great player."