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Please get off Clarry's back. Show some respect!

Bobby McKenzie
in Melbourne Demons

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2024 was always going to be about Clayton the person not Clayton the footballer. 
He has done more than enough in his time with our club to be afforded a “down” year while he gets his health in order. 
I hope everyone criticizing him never goes through anything personal that impacts their job. 

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    I think he quietly became the second fastest player ever to 5000 disposals as well against St Kilda a few weeks ago too (behind Tom Mitchell).

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    18 hours ago, Bobby McKenzie said:

    It saddens me to read all the unpleasant, nasty comments about Clayton. He is a champion player who has won four best and fairest and has been twice the winner of the coaches award. A higher, more meaningful award than the Brownlow in my humble opinion. He is battling to show his true form at the moment as a result  of fitness and past personal issues. He loves the club and was looking delighted when Kynan Brown's debut was announced. I would hope that I am only appealing to a small minority and that the vast majority would agree with me. Talk of trading is ridiculous and an insult to the man. Show some fairness please and give Clarry some breathing space. Negativity does not help his cause.

    Spot on Bobby!

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    What Clarry needs right now is a new challenge. He is not able to play his previous role, at the moment and he is just getting frustrated 😣 

    He should have played a solid block (10 games) at Casey at the beginning of this season, to sharpen him up, but it didn’t happen. We are now seeing the results. 
    Play him at Half Back Simon, with some time at Half Forward 

    Give him new jobs where he won’t be tagged 

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    3 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

     

    He should have played a solid block (10 games) at Casey at the beginning of this season, to sharpen him up, but it didn’t happen. We are now seeing the results. 

    good grief

    you don't run makybe diva at the boort racetrack

    Edited by whatwhat say what

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    29 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

    What Clarry needs right now is a new challenge. He is not able to play his previous role, at the moment and he is just getting frustrated 😣 

    He should have played a solid block (10 games) at Casey at the beginning of this season, to sharpen him up, but it didn’t happen. We are now seeing the results. 
    Play him at Half Back Simon, with some time at Half Forward 

    Give him new jobs where he won’t be tagged 

    Oliver is not a good enough kick to play half back and he is not a great defender.

    And he has never shown himself to be a great forward.

    We need Oliver to win the hard ball in the midfield this season, because our midfield already lacks depth and he does not use the ball well enough to play in periphery positions.

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    3 hours ago, waynewussell said:

    Kindly remind me of another Demon who has this record since 1964. I'm sure I have overlooked someone! In fact, as limited as I am, I can't think of any other player across the competition that has this sort of Resume in the most recent quarter century. Silly me, I'm sure there are heaps... but I bet my bottom dollar, the supporters of those other teams weren't/aren't debating whether to offload their champions!

    I don't rate some of those awards or the yesrs connected but one bad year does not mean you hypothetically offload him, Clarry has some issues and I trust the club in helping him and we don't know all the issues that he has/is going through and unless he want to go he has enough credits in the bank to keep him.

    I also understand other views on this matter as Clarry needs to improve his disposal by hand and foot as they are not great even his demeanour this year is not that great.

    All in all things will play out at years end and it isn't in anyone's hands but Clarry and the club at the end of the day.

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    Clarry has been a monumental part of our club - there is no doubting that. However I am firmly in the corner of the club and winning premierships and stand behind a relentless and ruthless pursuit of winning more flags. That is me. If this means trading players, then you do. There is no player under the right circumstances that you dont trade.  I understand folks on here will have trouble accepting that, but that is the brutal nature of AFL footy. There are no prizes or plaudits for the runner up or those that just make a PF or make top 4 or even make finals. 

    Clarrys individual achievements and contributions to the team / flag do matter and don’t go unnoticed. For me however, he has cashed in those tickets and whatever dues he has accumulated for his work are no more. The fact that he’s playing with us this year and wasn’t traded out I think reflects this as well. 

    Does this mean we should trade him or give him another chance? I think that rests solely with Oliver. The club on the otherhand should be completely prepared for either scenario.

     

    Edited by Gawndy the Great

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    2 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

    Oliver is not a good enough kick to play half back and he is not a great defender.

    And he has never shown himself to be a great forward.

    We need Oliver to win the hard ball in the midfield this season, because our midfield already lacks depth and he does not use the ball well enough to play in periphery positions.

    4 time B and F.  In Flag year. 3 time AA.

    As a midfielder. Generational and give him some slack he's earned it.

    Spot on comments above - He's a midfielder Stupid -(not you Fat Tony)

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    3 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

    Oliver is not a good enough kick to play half back and he is not a great defender.

    And he has never shown himself to be a great forward.

    We need Oliver to win the hard ball in the midfield this season, because our midfield already lacks depth and he does not use the ball well enough to play in periphery positions.

    Yes. We do, but he has to get confidence back first. He is just getting frustrated right now. Treading water 

     

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    3 hours ago, whatwhat say what said:

    good grief

    you don't run makybe diva at the boort racetrack

    Clarry is not Makybe Diva. But he does need to get his confidence back. Getting hard tags all game is not what he needs right now 

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    Even the greatest of players have had off seasons, so spare me. It is too easy to write him off when none of us know the challenges he has had. That fracture dislocation needed surgery and I suspect has hindered his ball handling. Just last week he gave it a tweak at training but still got up to play. And if you want to see how invested he is in the club just look at his joy in WCW's videos at training and his unbounded enthusiasm last week and today when the club announced to debutants.

    Hi is our player deserving of our support not our scorn

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    Love fans who expect loyalty from players, but are willing to trade one of our greatest ever players because he’s having a down year due to complex factors. 
     

    The melts on here over Grundy playing well for Sydney are nothing compared to the melts we will see if Clarry goes on to be a star elsewhere. Luckily that won’t happen. 

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    6 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

    Clarry is not Makybe Diva. But he does need to get his confidence back. Getting hard tags all game is not what he needs right now 

    it's exactly what he needs

    remind him of how hard you need to work to be successful

    i'd much rather he play 5 good games in the afl than 5 great ones in the vfl

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    5 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

    All the club's decisions should be made with the aim to maximise the number of premierships we win in perpetuity. 

    Everyone agrees that Clarrie has been a superstar, but we need to make decisions going forward.

    Can Oliver, with his mental health issues and about to turn 27, come back to be worth the six year $1m+ contract? And will he be a good example to our younger players?

    Personally, I think it is a bigger risk to keep him than to trade him if we can get another club to pay his salary.

    This is not a rational post though, Tony. Whatever we got in return for Clarry, would need to match him. Good luck. Then there's the contract, then there's the lack of pre season. It's irrelevant that some of this is self inflicted. It's not happening.

    As to whether it should, if Clarry gets a full pre season in, he'll sky-rocket back to being one of the best, if not the best mid in the comp.

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    8 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

    it's exactly what he needs

    remind him of how hard you need to work to be successful

    i'd much rather he play 5 good games in the afl than 5 great ones in the vfl

    But he is not playing good games, that’s the point 

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    5 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

    2024 was always going to be about Clayton the person not Clayton the footballer. 
    He has done more than enough in his time with our club to be afforded a “down” year while he gets his health in order. 
    I hope everyone criticizing him never goes through anything personal that impacts their job. 

    Wonderfully said ty

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    17 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

    it's exactly what he needs

    remind him of how hard you need to work to be successful

    i'd much rather he play 5 good games in the afl than 5 great ones in the vfl

    I don't mind him playing a game or two at VFL but i'd leave that call up to him after an open discussion.

    Excluding last week's game, which was hopefully an outlier, his 'ordinary' at AFL level is still as good as we've got through the middle aside from Vines.

    There are no other mids tearing it up at Casey and being held back. 

    Even if there was there's still plenty of room for them with Tracc & Gus now gone.

    Edited by Demon Dynasty

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    41 minutes ago, Binmans PA said:

    This is not a rational post though, Tony. Whatever we got in return for Clarry, would need to match him. Good luck. Then there's the contract, then there's the lack of pre season. It's irrelevant that some of this is self inflicted. It's not happening.

    As to whether it should, if Clarry gets a full pre season in, he'll sky-rocket back to being one of the best, if not the best mid in the comp.

    I’m not convinced he will ever get back to what he was. The speed of the game has increased and I fear this year might be a glimpse into what we’ll get over the next six years. 

    I see Oliver as an inside midfielder only due to his average kicking. And without elite speed, he is an average midfielder on big money. I can’t see us winning a flag without elite mids. 

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    9 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

    I’m not convinced he will ever get back to what he was. The speed of the game has increased and I fear this year might be a glimpse into what we’ll get over the next six years. 

    I see Oliver as an inside midfielder only due to his average kicking. And without elite speed, he is an average midfielder on big money. I can’t see us winning a flag without elite mids. 

    Did you just call Oliver an average midfielder?

    Sean Flanagan Fah GIF by FoilArmsandHog

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    2 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

    Did you just call Oliver an average midfielder?

    Sean Flanagan Fah GIF by FoilArmsandHog

    At the moment, without elite speed, Oliver is an average midfielder. 

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    57 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

    But he is not playing good games, that’s the point 

    he was our best midfielder against the filth by some margin

    he's not playing as badly as some of the hyperbole would have you believe

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    Be nuts to trade Clarry. Apart from the fact that he’s ones of the best players to ever play for us I just don’t think it makes sense to trade him.
    He'll be back to his best next year and at his best he’s in the top 5 in the comp. 
    If we trade him with his form slump, off field issues and length of contact we will get way unders for him. Proper A graders are very hard to come by.
     

    There's a far better chance that Clarry will be back to A grade form next year than any player or pick we get in return for him.  

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    8 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

    he was our best midfielder against the filth by some margin

    he's not playing as badly as some of the hyperbole would have you believe

    No i disagree.
    His kicks were mostly hacks or straight up in the air against the Filth, he is still getting the ball, to a degree, but not using it well at all. 
    He just needs a change of scenery to reset himself 

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    16 games is a very small sample size to trade one of the greatest players to represent the MFC on.

    He'll be back

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