WELCOME TO THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB - CLAYTON OLIVER

[Gator 16,921]

The first thing he needs to do is start calling himself Clay. It's much better than Clayton.

We have another competitor. What I really like is that he makes good decisions under pressure and seems composed.

Also, he's a true inside mid, but has speed and agility. 2.99 seconds is very good for an i.m, so is 8.11 in the agility test, which ranked him third.

He doesn't look like he's an elite kick, but his hands are fantastic and 70% disposal efficiency for an i.m is terrific.

An average of 24 disposals, 6 clearances, 6 tackles and 59% contested possessions ratio rounds out the picture.

Best of all, he's a goal kicking inside mid - 20 goals from 16 games.

Everything stacks up with this guy. He's the real deal.

[Dee-licious 1,867]

The first thing he needs to do is start calling himself Clay. It's much better than Clayton.

We have another competitor. What I really like is that he makes good decisions under pressure and seems composed.

Also, he's a true inside mid, but has speed and agility. 2.99 seconds is very good for an i.m, so is 8.11 in the agility test, which ranked him third.

He doesn't look like he's an elite kick, but his hands are fantastic and 70% disposal efficiency for an i.m is terrific.

An average of 24 disposals, 6 clearances, 6 tackles and 59% contested possessions ratio rounds out the picture.

Best of all, he's a goal kicking inside mid - 20 goals from 16 games.

Everything stacks up with this guy. He's the real deal.

Perfect score on the goal kicking test at the combine. Agree that his kicks look odd at time, but with space and time looks like he nails them.

Also he has had multiple 10 tackle games. Cant wait to see him paired with Viney at training.

[Ron Burgundy 8,584]

Roos will love this kid.

[sue 8,477]

Before the draft many posters were saying the club must have had a player in mind when manoeuvering to get the #3. Has the club said that CO was part of the plan, or did we just #3 regardless?

[poita 3,708]

I wish Clayton all the best, but I can't believe we traded up in the draft just to get him when he most likely would have been available at pick 6 anyway.

I was rapt with our selections last year, but am fairly underwhelmed by this year's crop.

[TRIGON 4,719]

Sh*t, Oliver looks like an overweight albino.

Could get sunstroke in mid July.

Hmmm...just like Santa he may struggle to get to Darwin (or a town like Alice). May struggle in the interstate games in WA and QLD too. All will be OK though Dee Dee if they're night games.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

I wish Clayton all the best, but I can't believe we traded up in the draft just to get him when he most likely would have been available at pick 6 anyway.

I think Essendon would have taken him over Parish.

[Mad_Melbourne 872]

I just like that in 5 years time it looks like we will have the best inside midfield in the comp, whilst the draft crop may not have been as deep the top 15 are as good as any other, it just happened that 4-5 of those were unavailable due to being academy players.

I really like this fella, more so because of how good nick he got himself into after the season finished, it was clearly just excess weight due to O.P and probably not watching what he ate. Fitness will sky rocket but the only thing i dont like is watching him bounce the football, jeez that was ugly.

Clayton, welcome to the melbourne football club, enjoy the constant comparrisons to Darcy Parish and also the completely negative posts when inevitably you make a mistake.

Edited November 24, 2015 by Mad_Melbourne

[daisycutter 28,691]

I couldn't work out who he reminds me of (playing style), but knew I'd seen it before. I worked it out, and know why it was so tough.

Byron Pickett anyone?

dane swan for me

[djr 1,071]

No You are not alone. Wanted Parish and McKay I thought they were more credentialed selections. Dont trust guys that zoom up the list late and always worry about pre existing injuries

I seem to recall that Bontempelli shot up the charts from nowhere a couple of years ago. He hasn't turned out too badly. What names do you have in mind that have failed?

Edited November 24, 2015 by djr

[Good Times Grimes 2,396]

I wish Clayton all the best, but I can't believe we traded up in the draft just to get him when he most likely would have been available at pick 6 anyway.

I was rapt with our selections last year, but am fairly underwhelmed by this year's crop.

Last year we had picks #2 & #3 that seemingly couldn't have gone any other way, given that St. Kilda selected McCartin. Brawyshaw and Petracca were no brainers.

This year at #3 & #7 there were always going to be different opinions as to who we should select, and a fair bit of strategy involved as to who would go to Essendon and Gold Coast before #7. I think that Oliver really adds to the uncompromising midfield core that we're building and will fit in at the MFC nicely. Weideman obviously has some injury concerns, but he has been rated very highly by those in the know.

Taylor has given us no reason to not have 100% faith in him, so if I were you I wouldn't be too hung up on missing out on Parish/Curnow/McKay/Whoever else you wanted until we've actually seen what all of these players can do.

[Biffen 12,433]

Was it MAD magazine, Ginger Meggs or Chuckie?

[Lucifers Hero 37,324]

I thought, taking an extra mid/on-baller not so critical as:

- the club has confidence in our lower pick mids/on-ballers: Stretch, Harmes, ANB, Kent, Bugg etc

- Next year's draft runs deep for mid-fielders/on-ballers

- Mitch King and Liam Hulett expected to be rookied by Melb which says all the mids we wanted were gone so we went for need.

Overall, a balanced result.

Edited November 24, 2015 by Lucifer's Hero

[Spin-it-to-Goodwin-it 579]

I think Essendon would have taken him over Parish.

They had an air of disappointment about them when it came their turn to pick Parish.

[Demon3 2,541]

Simple.. Competitors.. thats what we are building, a team that will just keep having a crack.. its what some of our better teams have been built on in the past. I love it. There will be enough class in the side, but give me a team of bulls and heart anytime.

As for the Weid? well, big boys take a while, so we will not know for a while. But i cannot wait to see us attack teams next year. Jayden Hunt could be an x-factor in our side, genuine outside pace, will be interesting to see how he progresses.

2016 might be the year we see a team that is capable of playing Finals sooner rather than later.

[Gator 16,921]

Clearly we haven't overreached, because Worsfold has stated post draft that they would have taken whoever was left out of Oliver or Parish.

[H_T 2,941]

Perfect score on the goal kicking test at the combine. Agree that his kicks look odd at time, but with space and time looks like he nails them.

Also he has had multiple 10 tackle games. Cant wait to see him paired with Viney at training.

It was great to see footage of the combine last night prior to the Draft. It showed Clay testing for goal kicking, whilst he did get a perfect score, a couple went through Kernahan-style and like I've mentioned elsewhere, he reminds me a little of Dane Swan with his kicking and Voss with his quick evasive skills & disposal (HB) as seen in the extended highlights version.

[Devil is in the Detail 883]

It was great to see footage of the combine last night prior to the Draft. It showed Clay testing for goal kicking, whilst he did get a perfect score, a couple went through Kernahan-style and like I've mentioned elsewhere, he reminds me a little of Dane Swan with his kicking and Voss with his quick evasive skills & disposal (HB) as seen in the extended highlights version.

It was funny, the first highlight reel stopped the highlight shot when the kick was in mid air. I was thinking that was he going to be like Moloney and just bomb the ball without any accuracy. Then the AFL released a highlight reel where it showed where his kicks were landing and most of them hit a target. That made my more comfortable selecting him at #3.

[Davos 738]

No You are not alone. Wanted Parish and McKay I thought they were more credentialed selections. Dont trust guys that zoom up the list late and always worry about pre existing injuries

Bontempelli "zoomed up" relatively late. Joel Selwood had pre existing injury concerns. Meh.

[juzzk1d 1,354]

A few things stand out for me when watching Oliver

• His ability to break tackles, get his arms free and handball out of congestion over players heads
• His ability to take contested marks
• His goal kicking ability as a mid
• The way he stops and props and allows his opponents to be drawn to him to allow his team mate to be free so then he can fire out a handball (Think Sam Mitchell)

In one game he kicked 6 as a mid, he got 30/30 for the goal kicking in the draft combine meaning he can slot them on both feet. He has all the right attributes to be a massive player for us going forward. Sure, Parish has more speed, he can play inside & out but in terms of his contested marks, goal kicking and ability to break tackles and handball over people to clear congestion Oliver is the clear winner for me here.

Edited November 24, 2015 by juzzk1d

[hoopla 418]

I know he has not had any media training - and many posters will say that his ability to answer questions has nothing to do with his football ability- but I was a bit concerned that he seemed to have turned up on the night with no expectations at all. An early pick - and a long-term senior player must have a calm self belief - and the ability to think clearly under pressure.

On the basis of his interview he doesn't seem to have got his mind around being an AFL footballer yet. I recall JImmy Toumpas " not really believing" that he would soon be playing on the G. As it turned he seemed a bit "overwhelmed " whenever he got the ball in a tight situation . I just hope that underneath that boyish reaction,Clayton has an unshakable belief in himself - and the confidence "to take the game on" which showed up in his highlight reel

Nobody expected him to be a standout player this year. From here on - he will have to deal with the high expectations that come with an early pick. Just hope he quickly settles into his "new skin" as a high profile player.

[mo64 5,262]

I do seem to be the only one with this opinion but i reckon we've blown it this year. spending next years pick to get in on this years pool of talent will bite us i have a feeling.

Of course i dont know but its the feeling i get. Oliver is over rated and Weideman is injury prone and again, over rated. It seems once a name is thrown out there , the hype snowballs and suddenly he is a future gun but nobody really knows how it got to that point.

I know smokies come from nowhere but when choosing pick 3 , there really shouldn't be as many question marks on players skills, endurance, nous etc as there were this year.

I really hope I'm wrong but at this point i feel the trade and draft period has been a bust this year. we picked up some scraps in the trade period and marketed the result as win by selling next years pick.

Not convinced.

100% agree. We gave up next years 1st rounder in supposedly a strong draft, plus this year's 2nd round pick to upgrade our early picks. Unlike the Tyson/Salem trade which made perfect sense, the end result this year has left me unenthused.

Oliver looks like he'll be a good AFL player, but doesn't have the skillset of Brayshaw and Petracca based on his junior career, so doesn't look like he has "elite" potential. I hope I'm wrong.

Lot of question marks over Weideman, with his injury history and poor beep test results.

The players that we traded for aren't game changers.

I hope to be proven wrong with Oliver and Weideman, and they become A graders, but I have my reservations.

[TheoX 1,218]

Knightmare has him as 1 of only 4 players he considers as top 5 on list quality. Good enough for me. He has a better eye for talent than any of those journos who "follow" the tac cup/championships imo.

He had Toumpas in that category too mind you. Taylor hasn't put a foot wrong since he's been here though, no doubt he's made the right choices.

They had an air of disappointment about them when it came their turn to pick Parish.

Really? Seemed Worsfold couldn't read his name out quick enough.

[Demonated 252]

I already stated I didn't really want to get Parish, this was based on my own perceptions of his highlights and profile more than any inside knowledge. For this reason alone I'm happy we looked elsewhere. I like the way Oliver seems to play. He plays like a more physical version of Dom Tyson in packs with head and ball fakes to create space for himself and his kicking seems effective. He is also a very willing tackler and good overhead, but he may take at least a year before he has the aerobic capacity to play many midfield minutes.

It isn't really too important because he won't be a dashing line-breaking player at AFL level I wouldn't expect, but he is the worst bouncer of a footy I think I've ever seen in the AFL. It's almost comical how bad he looks at it, but like I said, I doubt it will be much of a factor.

[mauriesy 6,860]

Not complaining. There's some Scully in Parish and some Dangerfield in Oliver.