1 hour ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Clarrie is travelllng very well.

afl.com.au

The pre-season attitude that has Oliver primed for Giant...

Adam Kingsley is confident Clayton Oliver can rediscover his best at the Giants

Very committed and training like the Clariie of old.

So based on that - is it fair to say that he wasnt doing that at MFC? I thougt i could recall many trackwatchers report that said he was training the house down. i remember even when he kicked 3 in a practise game and we thought he was back...then it went nowhere, fast.

Perhaps it was the kick up the bum he need to squeeze that extra 1-2% (or more like the 5-10% as he was miles behind the top rungs of AFL midfielders).

Green was the one player the Giants couldn’t afford to lose. Massive blow

Hopefully the pressure doesn’t get to Clarry too much

Three seasons ago at Peak Clarry, Tom Green had an uncannily similar profile including some odd stats for inside mids such as a high intercept possession count. Green was basically Clarry minus 10% across the board. There was no other player in this odd 'group'.

Now Oliver surely will be expected to play Green's role, perhaps with lower expectations.

It could work really well, the Giant's are likely thrilled to have him right at this moment.

4 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

That might be curtains for GWS in terms of a flag - already down Kelly, Darcy Jones and (now) way more critically Green.

Can see this going one of two ways for Clarry:

1) He takes Green's role and runs with it. He gets back to his best and the AFL lauds the player and club for making such an astute list management call as they finish top 4 or 6

or

2) He can't get back to his best. GWS give him a huge responsibility as the premier inside mid but he can't fill the void that Green's left. GWS miss the top 10 and Clarry has another middling year such as 2024 and 2025.

I like your analysis @Bring-Back-Powell . Is there a third option? He plays like he did with the Deez in '24 and '25?

Watching Carrie closely for the last two seasons, trying to work out what had changed from his great years, I concluded that whatever had transpired behind the scenes with him had reduced his awareness in congestion and his ability to create like he used to. Just a beat slower at critical moments, a second guess, an unawareness of his space.

I’m not convinced fitness alone will have him regain this. We shall see.

5 minutes ago, PaulR said:

Watching Carrie closely for the last two seasons, trying to work out what had changed from his great years, I concluded that whatever had transpired behind the scenes with him had reduced his awareness in congestion and his ability to create like he used to. Just a beat slower at critical moments, a second guess, an unawareness of his space.

I’m not convinced fitness alone will have him regain this. We shall see.

Let me add that he was always a clean, one touch player.

He had lost that ability and was uncharacteristically fumbling.

A hand injury was probably the initial cause followed by a lack of confidence.

Whilst fitness alone won't fix this attitude will go a fair way.

Lets wait and see but to be honest it will only be a passing interest for me.

I just hope he's doing well outside of football.

7 minutes ago, rjay said:

I just hope he's doing well outside of football.

It would be hard not too, when he is receiving $2 million free money 💰 for the next 5 years….

1 hour ago, 3KZ is Football said:

It would be hard not too, when he is receiving $2 million free money 💰 for the next 5 years….

No money is an issue and sometimes too much money is an issue.

1 hour ago, PaulR said:

Watching Carrie closely for the last two seasons, trying to work out what had changed from his great years, I concluded that whatever had transpired behind the scenes with him had reduced his awareness in congestion and his ability to create like he used to. Just a beat slower at critical moments, a second guess, an unawareness of his space.

I’m not convinced fitness alone will have him regain this. We shall see.

His hamstring injury made him lose his explosiveness out of contest. He couldn’t break out like he used to. Because a slow inside mid

Still can't forgive King for Jettisoning the 2nd best player I have seen since Rob Flower. Disgrace!

3 hours ago, PaulR said:

Watching Carrie closely for the last two seasons, trying to work out what had changed from his great years, I concluded that whatever had transpired behind the scenes with him had reduced his awareness in congestion and his ability to create like he used to. Just a beat slower at critical moments, a second guess, an unawareness of his space.

I’m not convinced fitness alone will have him regain this. We shall see.

Excellent evaluation

He's a step behind instead of a step ahead. At his best he would swoop in at lightning pace and dish it off quick as lightning to a player on the move

All those fast-twitch muscles at play. Sheer brilliance

But we haven't seen it since mid 2023 and 2 and a half years have passed

He might get it back, but week after week of that former brilliance? 40/60

2 hours ago, rjay said:

No money is an issue and sometimes too much money is an issue.

Oh yes, he’s already proven that theory correct….

13 hours ago, PaulR said:

Watching Carrie closely for the last two seasons, trying to work out what had changed from his great years, I concluded that whatever had transpired behind the scenes with him had reduced his awareness in congestion and his ability to create like he used to. Just a beat slower at critical moments, a second guess, an unawareness of his space.

I’m not convinced fitness alone will have him regain this. We shall see.

That is an interesting observation.

If true we have seen his best.

11 hours ago, picket fence said:

Still can't forgive King for Jettisoning the 2nd best player I have seen since Rob Flower. Disgrace!

Time to move on PF. The fact is Oliver consistently took the Mickey and had numerous off field issues, from what I hear as recently as end of season 2025.

We needed to move on from that and give our young stars fresh air and a good culture.

11 hours ago, 3KZ is Football said:

Oh yes, he’s already proven that theory correct….

Sanctimonious much? You come off as holier-than-thou, speaking from up there on your pedestal but you’re not perfect; nobody is.

Edited 17 hours ago17 hr by Ghostwriter
Decided to not address the poster’s grammatical error

13 hours ago, picket fence said:

Still can't forgive King for Jettisoning the 2nd best player I have seen since Rob Flower. Disgrace!

I very much doubt he would have returned to his best, and I honestly don’t think he would have been terribly invested in the club, given that, and I’m purely guessing at this point and so may be wrong, he and King didn’t seem to hit it off too well. The other thing is that his delivery (along with Trac’s) had gone right off and he had never been good in front of goals to begin with.

Personally, I see his loss as a great opportunity for us to rejuvenate our midfield, with Windsor, Rivers, Pickett, and Culley all likely to spend a lot of time there, along with old stalwarts in Steele and Viney. Exciting times ahead!

As for Clarry, I seriously want to see him thrive at GWS, as I think a happy Clarry onfield will see a happier Clarry off field, and god knows he needs that. I’ll be watching him and getting behind him (except when we play them). The change of scenery plus the fact that he’ll have Hogan and Bedford there to keep him company, will do him good, plus GWS losing Green from their midfield will give him the opportunity to prove his worth.

Edited 16 hours ago16 hr by hardtack

We saw Clayton at his very best for 4-5 years and his best was The Best, then late ‘23 - EO 25 through injury and other issues we saw a huge drop off in performance but still on huge $$$’s.

If GWS get to see our Original Clayton it will mean that he has sorted out his fitness and mental health and that will be a good thing for him and The Giants, If not it will be a sad ending to a brilliant career.

1 hour ago, Ghostwriter said:

Sanctimonious much? You come off as holier-than-thou, speaking from up there on your pedestal but you’re not perfect; nobody is.

I didn’t sign a multi year Huge Contract and then go off the rails, weeks later…

Nobody is perfect, that is a Fact, but Clarry had little respect for the MFC as a whole for a long time and to still be pulling such a large amount of cash 💰 out of us is a very ordinary situation.

It may not bother you, but I despise it…

The Club did everything for Clarry and he gave us the finger….

On 15/01/2026 at 09:38, Coolx2 said:

I have not been able to sleep since Oliver's departure . We are doomed !!! Not worried if Gates wants to blacken out the Sun (thank god for green energy derived from solar panels).

I tried listening to songs like I will Survive,Yesterday, I am a Believer but still I am depressed. Is there an AFL life line I could ring? My dad said, suck it up princess.

Good advice from the Old Man😉

10 minutes ago, Billy said:

Good advice from the Old Man😉

The game progresses & changes very rapidly.

Maintain posession & clean disposal is King. Clarry always just banged it forward indiscriminately.

He can't fall back on kicking goals or being an aerial threat.

He is a HD Holden competing with a new Mazda 3.

Why all this attention on yesterday's man who chose to leave the club?

I'd rather be concentrating on the future, with exciting young talent such as Caleb Windsor and others.

This thread is nearly as bad as the training ground thread for going around in circles and repeating itself.

1 hour ago, 3KZ is Football said:

I didn’t sign a multi year Huge Contract and then go off the rails, weeks later…

Nobody is perfect, that is a Fact, but Clarry had little respect for the MFC as a whole for a long time and to still be pulling such a large amount of cash 💰 out of us is a very ordinary situation.

It may not bother you, but I despise it…

The Club did everything for Clarry and he gave us the finger….

46 minutes ago, BDA said:

This thread is nearly as bad as the training ground thread for going around in circles and repeating itself.

True, but it occasionally breaks news (for me at least) e.g. Greene's injury.

3 hours ago, DeeZone said:

We saw Clayton at his very best for 4-5 years and his best was The Best, then late ‘23 - EO 25 through injury and other issues we saw a huge drop off in performance but still on huge $$$’s.

If GWS get to see our Original Clayton it will mean that he has sorted out his fitness and mental health and that will be a good thing for him and The Giants, If not it will be a sad ending to a brilliant career.

True but it’s also the case the game has changed as well in a way the values speed and efficiency over contest and meters gained. Even peak Oliver if 2021-22 wouldn’t be the same player today