54 minutes ago, dpositive said:

Oliver is an indicator of the club performance.

He was traded to improve club performance. From a financial perspective the report at the AGM seems to indicate it has been handled well. How other (all) players perform will be the measure of how well this was handled.

this is a complex issue which requires far mor nuanced explanantion which requires far greater knowledge of facts than we have access to. I trust and support the club but certainly hope it works out well for both us and Oliver.

Fair comment!

22 hours ago, sue said:

1. He said 'you may have to play a new role'. OR:

2. He said 'you may have to play a new role and if you don't like it you'll be at Casey'. ?

Maysie was told this, therefore it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that Clarrie was as well.

Wasn't May told to look for a new club.....and if he could not find a suitor, would be welcomed back? Not sure that he was told anything about positional changes.... unless that was all after he could not find any club interested?

So much revisionism....I don't know anymore ha.

10 minutes ago, NeveroddoreveN said:

Wasn't May told to look for a new club.....and if he could not find a suitor, would be welcomed back? Not sure that he was told anything about positional changes.... unless that was all after he could not find any club interested?

So much revisionism....I don't know anymore ha.

My read was May was advised that the club would look to play its core group of younger players to setup our team for its next window and as such, barring injuries, May would probably spend most of his time at Casey. As such it encouraged May to explore opportinities elsewhere while also letting him know that he is a Melbourne player.

12 minutes ago, NeveroddoreveN said:

Wasn't May told to look for a new club.....and if he could not find a suitor, would be welcomed back? Not sure that he was told anything about positional changes.... unless that was all after he could not find any club interested?

So much revisionism....I don't know anymore ha.

Having read through most threads and player, coaches quotes May was advised to have a look around to see if he could get a deal past 2026, when he asked can I come back if I don’t get an offer, he was told Yes but there are no guarantees, all positions have to be earnt. That applies to all players.

17 hours ago, picket fence said:

Sue, if this was threatened, then it was a MAJOR blunder by an inexperienced coach, not an experienced one, can you imagine Chris Fagan saying this??

You don't get to where King was at Geelong without being experienced and familiar with what a coach does. So if you want to nitpick, perhaps I should have said 'an experienced person in coaching circles'. He was even interim coach at GC for 7 games and his cv indicates he has had more senior coaching related experience than probably anyone here.

And sure, if anyone makes a blunder, its a blunder, uppercase or not. In the absence of independent evidence that King is blunder-prone, I'd assume he did not make such a blunder given the circumatnces I outlined.

40 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

Maysie was told this, therefore it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that Clarrie was as well.

As I said it was of course possible Oliver was given the Casey ultimatum since we had no direct evidence either way. I just doubted it. As for May, ageing players during a rebuild are always going to be told that as part of caring remarks such as "maybe you should look somewhere else". His circumstances were different than Oliver's so it doesn't add much weight to our guesses as to what was said to Clarrie.

Edited Saturday at 00:584 days by sue

In the absence of anyone really knowing what was said at his exit meeting I'm happy to let the fact that we were willing to absorb up to half his salary for the rest of his contract to move him on speak for itself.

7 hours ago, Neil Crompton said:

This farewell for Oliver - at 101 pages and counting - is longer than Dame Nellie Melba's and KISS's farewells combined. I think I can easily summarise the gist of what has been discussed over the last 101 pages:

• yes he was - no he wasn't

• yes he is - no he isn't

• yes he will - no he won't.

  I think that about covers it.

  But just for @picket fence, he WAS a champion, one of the greatest Dee's ever. But sadly the last two years have shown how far he has fallen, and the fact that the Club was prepared to pay him to play elsewhere really says it all.

  Time to move on i believe - just like Clarrie has.

It’s embarrassing but we know it won’t end and possibly Demonland biggest fool will keep it going anytime Clarry performs well he will reignite this thread.

A man that old who refuses to consider the real reason Clarry was moved on, will never change their view despite the overwhelming evidence

Regular Demonland poster

“I know I’ll be right eventually”

10 hours ago, picket fence said:

Can't believe the animosity by some here denigrating Clarry, so again 4 B& F 2 time coaches award 3rd in Brownlow and yeah impact dropped last 2 years but still STILL his numbers for many metrics in those years remained ELITE!

I’m not discounting what he did but he has not been the same player for 2.5 seasons and the numbers do not tell the story. I don’t see him getting back to his best and whilst I still think he will have some good games, he will never reach the heights of his pre 2023 seasons

Clayton Oliver is gone

Must be remembered when a new coach is installed after the previous coach has been sacked after a decline in the clubs fortunes its not business as usual anymore. A new coach will identify toxic influences and remove them no matter how high in the club pecking order. Oliver has been identified as a toxic influence so be it.

If Oliver didn’t play a game in 2025, how many less wins would have we had last year?

If the answer is 0 to 1 less win, then perhaps that’s one of the reasons we traded him.

13 hours ago, Demons11 said:

I’m not discounting what he did but he has not been the same player for 2.5 seasons and the numbers do not tell the story. I don’t see him getting back to his best and whilst I still think he will have some good games, he will never reach the heights of his pre 2023 seasons

9 hours ago, John Crow Batty said:

Must be remembered when a new coach is installed after the previous coach has been sacked after a decline in the clubs fortunes its not business as usual anymore. A new coach will identify toxic influences and remove them no matter how high in the club pecking order. Oliver has been identified as a toxic influence so be it.

These two comments tell the story strongly influenced by ignorance of what has really happened. The future will tell.

If Oliver gets back to paly a positive role it indicates our club still lacks some features of player management. If our team doea as well as i expect we will see that the change was needed. Our new coach seems to be progressing with a new team and a new attitude at the moment.

On 02/01/2026 at 17:29, picket fence said:

Sue, if this was threatened, then it was a MAJOR blunder by an inexperienced coach, not an experienced one, can you imagine Chris Fagan saying this??

Further to PF, is anyone in the know hearing silence in the air?

2 hours ago, dpositive said:

These two comments tell the story strongly influenced by ignorance of what has really happened. The future will tell.

If Oliver gets back to paly a positive role it indicates our club still lacks some features of player management. If our team doea as well as i expect we will see that the change was needed. Our new coach seems to be progressing with a new team and a new attitude at the moment.

Is it an automatic indictment of us though if he does well? What if he just needed a change?

On 02/01/2026 at 00:35, KozzyCan said:

Wasn't it reported that we basically paid our bit in a lump sum to get it off our books asap. Even if our cap is affected by it for a few more years. Same thing with Goodwin I think.

After the debacle with the Treloar trade to the Dogs, the AFL simplified the rules around this stuff. Essentially if you are traded to another club and the first club agrees to pay part of the contract. Their portion is put into it's own contract. So the new club can renegotiate things down the line it won't affect the agreement with the first club.

Same thing happened when we traded Grundy to Sydney. Collingwood were still left on the hook for their bit because they had a contract with Grundy, not us. Sydney were happy to pay him what we were so we didn't have to cover it at all.

Don't take this the wrong way as you do have some good input on this site but I'm undecided on whether you're actually a good poster. You seem to be more in the know than the regular person but sometimes it seems like your ability to write well and throw alleged facts in that no-one will bother to check leads people to believe you know more than you actually do about a subject.

On 04/01/2026 at 11:35, Bowserpower said:

Don't take this the wrong way as you do have some good input on this site but I'm undecided on whether you're actually a good poster. You seem to be more in the know than the regular person but sometimes it seems like your ability to write well and throw alleged facts in that no-one will bother to check leads people to believe you know more than you actually do about a subject.

Lmao. "No offense but you might be a [censored] poster." Happy new year to you too mate.

Never claimed to be ITK at all but google is free if you want to fact check me. Maybe you could try that next time you think I'm being dishonest or misinformed.

Here I'll do it for you this time.

Melbourne reported a $199,000 operating loss for 2025, which was attributed to declining football revenue and payouts to Goodwin and long-term contracted midfielder Clayton Oliver.

Goodwin’s payout was made before October 31 this year, meaning it will not impact the club’s soft cap in 2026.

New Demons coach Steven King reported to the club’s AGM that Jai Culley and Kysaiah Pickett were among standouts in pre-season. Picture: Michael Klein

Oliver will be paid around $2 million across the next six years while playing for Greater Western Sydney after his trade in October.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/steven-king-paul-guerra-give-update-on-the-demons-fortunes-on-and-off-field-at-melbournes-annual-general-meeting/news-story/745fb468ee0b687f430d818122f42223#:~:text=Goodwin's%20payout%20was%20made%20before,club's%20soft%20cap%20in%202026.&text=Oliver%20will%20be%20paid%20around,after%20his%20trade%20in%20October.

So seems I was a bit off-base about the Goodwin/Oliver payouts but that's also why I framed it as a question.

Re Rule changes after Treloar trade:

Clubs will need to outline in detail how much of a traded player’s future contract they are expecting to pay before the AFL approves a deal, after a dispute arose between Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs following the last-minute Adam Treloar trade last year.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-to-tighten-trade-rules-after-treloar-deadline-drama-20210825-p58lqs.html

Re Grundy:

30 minutes ago, KozzyCan said:

Lmao. "No offense but you might be a [censored] poster." Happy new year to you too mate.

Never claimed to be ITK at all but google is free if you want to fact check me. Maybe you could try that next time you think I'm being dishonest or misinformed.

Here I'll do it for you this time.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/steven-king-paul-guerra-give-update-on-the-demons-fortunes-on-and-off-field-at-melbournes-annual-general-meeting/news-story/745fb468ee0b687f430d818122f42223#:~:text=Goodwin's%20payout%20was%20made%20before,club's%20soft%20cap%20in%202026.&text=Oliver%20will%20be%20paid%20around,after%20his%20trade%20in%20October.

So seems I was a bit off-base about the Goodwin/Oliver payouts but that's also why I framed it as a question.

Re Rule changes after Treloar trade:

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-to-tighten-trade-rules-after-treloar-deadline-drama-20210825-p58lqs.html

Re Grundy:

Easy there sunshine, I didn't attack you personally so there's no reason for you to.

Appreciate the citations but the problem is that you tend to pass off media as your own facts. It's dangerous because if you're coming across to others as a credible expert but the only sources of your info are media then you may not always be getting reliable information.

A lot of people here admire your input but there are quite a few who are getting a little tired of the high and mighty stuff as well.

Appreciate the chat though.

1 minute ago, Bowserpower said:

Easy there sunshine, I didn't attack you personally so there's no reason for you to.

Appreciate the citations but the problem is that you tend to pass off media as your own facts. It's dangerous because if you're coming across to others as a credible expert but the only sources of your info are media then you may not always be getting reliable information.

A lot of people here admire your input but there are quite a few who are getting a little tired of the high and mighty stuff as well.

Appreciate the chat though.

In what way did I attack you personally?

Again, I've never claimed to be ITK or an expert. If you look at the way I opened the post you originally responded to I asked a question about reporting. The rest of my post was essentially repeating information I have read and that I believe to be based in fact. I'm not sure anyone owns facts? If I'm wrong I'm more than happy for others to correct me or even just ask me to back up my info.

We either agree on whether sources of information are credible or we don't, do you believe any of the sources I provided were misinformed?

Bit rich to say my posting is high and mighty when you are passing judgement on the standard of my posts and speaking on the behalf of other posters.

On 03/01/2026 at 09:52, Slartibartfast said:

Picket nobody is happy about Clarrie's demise and we'd all love to have a 2021 version of him playing but since his hammy he really hasn't been the player he was and I doubt if he'd stayed at MFC he could have got back there.

I was very happy when both he and Trac returned to full preseasons last year and thought we were a genuine chance to make an impact in finals but I was very wrong and while Trac was good (but not by his highest standards) Clarrie was ordinary. It's also true that many of my friends warned me that Clarrie and Trac were very poor for the change room but I dismissed their concerns thinking that was not really important. I was wrong. Last year when I watched Captain's runs it was very apparent how Clarrie particularly and Trac were not "part of the group". Clarrie would engage with nobody but Fritta and Trac just went about his business with little or no interaction with other players.

You can kid yourself that this sort of thing doesn't matter. You can convince yourself that "if we'd won the close ones" we'd be much better than we appear but the reality is that over two years we were bog ordinary. Clarrie and Trac were no good for the change room and no good for the club. Goody, who I still love, was well past his used by date, another judgement I got very wrong.

Getting rid of these three and refreshing the list and the coaching staff give us a really good chance to reset. Like you, Clarrie was an absolute favourite of mine and I'll be forever grateful for his enormous contribution to the club but I also recognise we gave him many chances which he declined to take. If he "shoves it down our throats" this season then it will be just more evidence of how he really failed to apply himself over the last couple of years and will justify his trade.

As a side observation I've never seen Fritta train the way he is this PS. He's in everything and training like his future depends on it. Joining the dots I think not having his best buddy Clarrie there has removed a bit of a screen for him to go at less than 100%. I'm picking Fritta (along with Windsor) to be most improved this year based on training form and that's a big prediction given his very high standard.

Terrific post.

I think a lot of Melbourne supporters came to painful realisations similar to yours over the past six months. I certainly did.

Everyone is entitled to engage in some wishful thinking, especially when it comes to something we're passionate about, but it does set you up for disappointment when it clashes with the cold, often brutal reality of top-level sport.