GREATER Western Sydney is on the hunt for Travis Cloke and believe he can have as big an impact in the Harbour City as fellow key forwards Tony Lockett and Barry Hall did with the cross-town Swans.

Having previously stated they would not chase the off-contract forward, the Giants have had a change of heart, driven by Collingwood's announcement on Tuesday that talks with Cloke's management team had been put on hold.

GWS coach Kevin Sheedy all but ruled out targetting Cloke during a television appearance in June.

But on Thursday Sheedy couldn't help having a dig at the Magpies, the Giants' opponent at Skoda Stadium this weekend, stating "it's not smart" to put the 25-year-old on display in front of a Sydney crowd.

"You've got Cloke coming up to play and he's off contract," Sheedy told reporters.

"It's not often a team has a player off contract and they fly him up for us to see him. That's pretty generous of Collingwood.

"If he doesn't sign a contract I think there will be a few clubs out there [interested in him] and we'd definitely have to have a look at him.

"We can't just sit on our hands if he doesn't come to terms.

"It's not that smart of Collingwood to bring him up here and let everyone in Sydney have a look at him.

"It would be like bringing Tony Lockett or Barry Hall and saying 'look he's off contract Giants, would you like to have a look at him personally?'"

Sheedy was in vintage form in front of the cameras and microphones, saying he would get the Collingwood team bus to drive via GWS "luxurious" Breakfast Point set up so Cloke could see it before the game on Saturday afternoon.

"We'll make sure the bus gets side tracked," he said.

"We might get the bus driver to accidentally turn down the wrong street.

"It's only seven minutes away from here.

Sheedy had no interest in Cloke's current form slump and believes he could have an enormous impact in Sydney.

"We've got every right to consider a player like Cloke in regards to his talent," he said.

"If he doesn't end up signing and they've signed everybody else and they end up saying to Cloke 'that's all the money we've got and see you later', I think that style of player put the Swans on the map.

"Particularly Lockett and Barry Hall. It's amazing how things pan out."

The Giants will have some room to move in their salary cap due to the retirement of Dean Brogan, with Luke Power and James McDonald also tipped to end their careers.

The club had previously said it would focus on developing its young key forwards Jeremy Cameron and Jonathon Patton, but Sheedy said some big names were needed to bring crowds to Skoda Stadium.

"We've got to go and find four or five players to help these young players," he said.

"We've got enough 18-year-olds at the moment.

"We're going to pick up another five or six young players in the draft, but two or three of your experienced players will retire at the end of the year and we'll go after what we think is available.

"Whether it's Cloke or another person or three, that's the sorts of players you look at in the end because they're drawcards.

"I don't worry about form. He's a very strong, powerful, contested key forward and they're the sort of people who are drawcards and if we want to build up our attendance, we have to bring in drawcards."

Sheedy wasn't sure what the club would need to give up to get their hands on Cloke, but felt the Giants had enough options.

"Don't know," he said. "[But] we've got 17-year-old draft picks and that's pretty handy."