7 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Smith, his father and Dillon are all Xavier alumni.

The 'old school tie' network and all that!

Groom and broom school.

On 25/10/2025 at 18:32, rpfc said:

Well yes, something to root for

In all seriousness - who are we paying right now? Gotta pay someone - may as well be Oliver. I just hope we front load the payment somewhat

thats a good point. We would be well under our cap presently, so for next year it would be in our interests to rewrite our part of the contract to front load the payments to Oliver. which he would agree to. It may not be allowed though.

5 hours ago, Bay Riffin said:

thats a good point. We would be well under our cap presently, so for next year it would be in our interests to rewrite our part of the contract to front load the payments to Oliver. which he would agree to. It may not be allowed though.

Agree

For the crappy pick we got for him and considering we are paying part of his wage. I hope we don't end up getting EGG on our faces. Personally I wouldn't let him go for nix. Let him take a paycut if he wanted out so badly.

11 minutes ago, Coolx2 said:

For the crappy pick we got for him and considering we are paying part of his wage. I hope we don't end up getting EGG on our faces. Personally I wouldn't let him go for nix. Let him take a paycut if he wanted out so badly.

I think we almost certainly end up with egg on face re him playing great football … at least in 2026. That still doesn’t mean it was the wrong call imo.

19 minutes ago, Wells 11 said:

I think we almost certainly end up with egg on face re him playing great football … at least in 2026. That still doesn’t mean it was the wrong call imo.

disagree. he recovered from injury 2024 then had a full preseason, then played all year without major injuries, and was bog average in a lot of games. i thought his 7th placing in the B&F flattered him. you cannot convince me he prepared off field like he did prior to 2023. noone was going to pay anything decent to take him.

36 minutes ago, Coolx2 said:

For the crappy pick we got for him and considering we are paying part of his wage. I hope we don't end up getting EGG on our faces. Personally I wouldn't let him go for nix. Let him take a paycut if he wanted out so badly.

The benefits of moving him on with us paying part of his salary, far outweigh the potential benefits of him staying and both Oliver and the MFC not finding him a new home.

Even if he returns to his BnF and AA output, this was far bigger than that.

Regardless if he has an outstanding year or not, we made the right call. The controversy surrounding him year after year is just too draining for the club. For years we have just allowed Goodwin to play favourites and no one driving a harder stance for professionalism and improvement.

A new change of scenery is what was neeeded for both Clarry, and a fresh start and new path way for the Melbourne Football Club.

Supporters are forgetting, we had both Trac and Clarry playing for us and we have been bottoming out every year. Regardless of his output next year, he needed to go so we can reset and play a different faster, more outside game style that is suited for the modern game.

1 hour ago, Coolx2 said:

For the crappy pick we got for him and considering we are paying part of his wage. I hope we don't end up getting EGG on our faces. Personally I wouldn't let him go for nix. Let him take a paycut if he wanted out so badly.

We really need to look at the Oliver trade on a net net basis.

We got Steele at a cheap rate, the difference between his output and Olivers, the lack of distraction, leadership etc.

Net net we're even maybe slightly behind on Olivers present output - well behind if Oliver gets back to his 21 form

7 hours ago, Demon_JB said:

Regardless if he has an outstanding year or not, we made the right call. The controversy surrounding him year after year is just too draining for the club. For years we have just allowed Goodwin to play favourites and no one driving a harder stance for professionalism and improvement.

A new change of scenery is what was neeeded for both Clarry, and a fresh start and new path way for the Melbourne Football Club.

Supporters are forgetting, we had both Trac and Clarry playing for us and we have been bottoming out every year. Regardless of his output next year, he needed to go so we can reset and play a different faster, more outside game style that is suited for the modern game.

If you ain't got the ball, it doesn't matter if you're playing inside or outside

Needs to kick more goals to be considered an elite midfielder- even just 10 a year would be great. A Clayton Oliver goal is an event rather than a pattern.

The fact that I can distinctly remember all of his 4 goals for the year (Nth, Syd, Bris, hawks games) speaks volumes.

And this is why I always preferred Trac over Clarry and why I’m far more disappointed that the former has departed.

Really interested to see how the rest of his career pans out.

Knowing Clarry the way i think i do, he’ll get super fit, be super motivated & he’ll play good footy next year.

He won’t be needed to be the star like Melbourne needed him to be. This surely frees him up?.

But if so, for how long? Will he back it up in 27’ 28’? Or does the baggage of the past take another stranglehold over his career?

It really could go any way.

But good luck to him.

On 25/10/2025 at 18:32, rpfc said:

Well yes, something to root for

In all seriousness - who are we paying right now? Gotta pay someone - may as well be Oliver. I just hope we front load the payment somewhat

Don't forget we are paying Gus until the end of 2028.

1 hour ago, M_9 said:

Don't forget we are paying Gus until the end of 2028.

Yep.

Come 2030 we will have so much cap space

Look

Out

I get the sense there's a fair bit of hostility by some players towards the club

A few have moved on.

They were paid exceedingly well so I don't get it.

Of course we don't know what's going on but I do know if a player is unhappy it's best to get rid of them ASAP.

It's an honour and privilege to play for the greatest club in the world.

I'm not singling anyone out but we certainly need as much harmony and happiness amongst the playing group.

A happy team plays so much better.

4 hours ago, Previously known as LITD. said:

I get the sense there's a fair bit of hostility by some players towards the club

A few have moved on.

They were paid exceedingly well so I don't get it.

Of course we don't know what's going on but I do know if a player is unhappy it's best to get rid of them ASAP.

It's an honour and privilege to play for the greatest club in the world.

I'm not singling anyone out but we certainly need as much harmony and happiness amongst the playing group.

A happy team plays so much better.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is always rebalanced when we get a new ‘normal’ - money isn’t an issue? Great but now I have this issue.

It’s why our billionaires are our worst people.

2 minutes ago, rpfc said:

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is always rebalanced when we get a new ‘normal’ - money isn’t an issue? Great but now I have this issue.

It’s why our billionaires are our worst people.

Very intriguing chap was Maslow.

Billionaires are not self actualised because they never went through the pyramid steps in the correct order or sometimes none of them.

I believe most billionaires think they have earned all the money they have.

Let's use Musk the richest man in the world as an example.

I think he believes he had an idea for several companies as as such all the value of them belongs to him.

He does not consider the contribution of 1000s of people working in China at 3 oz dollars an hour building his batteries.

No it was his baby and it all belongs to him.

Also forget the US government grants and incentives

The banks throwing money him to buy x y and twitter.

Or he knows all this and just totally doesn't give a rats . He chooses to ignore that he could keep a couple of dozen of billion.....an amount I cannot fathom and solve 75% of us homelessness which is now reaching epidemic proportions in many cities.

All of it if he asks a few mates to chip in.

Some are lucky to have a Tesla to call home.

He's a different species. It's Narcism on steroids to an exponent of 300 billion.

A man who claims to help global war slow down but has a dozen kids

Good Lord.

What chance to we have with people like him about.

At least we know it'll be us punching him in the guts constantly and getting away with it. Won't we?

2 hours ago, Previously known as LITD. said:

Very intriguing chap was Maslow.

Billionaires are not self actualised because they never went through the pyramid steps in the correct order or sometimes none of them.

I believe most billionaires think they have earned all the money they have.

Let's use Musk the richest man in the world as an example.

I think he believes he had an idea for several companies as as such all the value of them belongs to him.

He does not consider the contribution of 1000s of people working in China at 3 oz dollars an hour building his batteries.

No it was his baby and it all belongs to him.

Also forget the US government grants and incentives

The banks throwing money him to buy x y and twitter.

Or he knows all this and just totally doesn't give a rats . He chooses to ignore that he could keep a couple of dozen of billion.....an amount I cannot fathom and solve 75% of us homelessness which is now reaching epidemic proportions in many cities.

All of it if he asks a few mates to chip in.

Some are lucky to have a Tesla to call home.

He's a different species. It's Narcism on steroids to an exponent of 300 billion.

A man who claims to help global war slow down but has a dozen kids

Good Lord.

What chance to we have with people like him about.

And all that gender affirming care to only be considered handsome adjacent (a description given to Musk by podcaster Caleb Hearon)

20 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Needs to kick more goals to be considered an elite midfielder- even just 10 a year would be great. A Clayton Oliver goal is an event rather than a pattern.

The fact that I can distinctly remember all of his 4 goals for the year (Nth, Syd, Bris, hawks games) speaks volumes.

And this is why I always preferred Trac over Clarry and why I’m far more disappointed that the former has departed.

Agree totally, a midfield great like a Buckley or Voss would be banging them through from anywhere and everywhere. With clarry it was a big deal unfortunately.

A bloke I know sat next to a very close associate of Clarry yesterday (Cup function). May be a player manager. Said the Dees had done the right thing. CO very bad for the culture, took up far too much time and resources, doesn't listen to anyone, and does what he wants.