21 hours ago, 58er said:

....... I thought this was a good base to build upon with a new and positive vibing Coach that made all the right statements re our list etc. then has dragged out his whip and decided otherwise without a decent meeting with a Club Champion to give him an opportunity to state his case..........

No Stephen King was at the meeting where Oliver was told that he would have a modified role.

We don't know whether this information was communicated in a respectful manner or a carping demeaning manner.

Based recent comments on King and previous observations of Oliver, I suspect the former and that Oliver just cracked it.

Oliver seems to have burnt his bridges and hence , painted himself into a corner. It would be galling for him to return to MFC. So MFC need only pay a token amount say, $100k p.a. Maintaining his yearly salary or not, is his problem.

5 hours ago, VoiceOfReason said:

Clayton is the best player we've had since Flower. It would take an insane offer to prize him out of MFC. Its a cop out to push him out, and also a cop out to ask him to change his game. How about we work with Oliver, and find out what has changed since he was at his best. My guess, on a quick view of the recent clip in the van, where he gave Dees a whack, and stuttered in doing so, is that Clayton is dealing with a mould exposure issue. Instead of just telling the best since Flower to change his game, actually dig a little deeper and finding out why he lost his form in the first place. We gave Goodwin far more time to improve - than we are giving Oliver.

Clarry has had 2 years of care, concern and attention. Probably too much. He has played average footy for those two years. This time last year, we backed him in. A full preseason he’ll be back. But no.

He has had dozens of chances.

He has to move on.

ps. I also am hurting and think he is the best player since Flower

5 hours ago, Very Jaded said:

Clarry is in the best physical and mental headspace he’s been in for two years

That’s great news for Clarry and GWS

Definitely feels like the worst possible time to sell for peanuts when the ability to throw away players for nothing is always at your disposal

Understand that King wants fresh air, and support his decision to do so. Just hope the decision to trade both Trac and Clarry for well below market value (unless something truly significant comes out of the Trac trade), doesn’t come back to hurt us

From recent media coverage I’m finding this hard to believe

Do you know this to be true or guessing?

*not having a crack, just wondering

8 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Oliver to GWS for

2025 GWS pick 35 PLUS the 2026 future GWS 1st rounder.

Thoughts?

Well at least that is a first rounder in a stronger draft, before Tassie joins.

6 hours ago, redandbluemakepurple said:

Maintaining his yearly salary or not, is his problem.

we're contracted to pay him his full amount. It's 100% our problem.

13 hours ago, BLWNBA said:

Not unexpected when you consider Oliver’s (and Petracca’s to a lesser extent) inside 50s will generally come from a much more contested situation and often clearances than players like Close and Miers. It’s why Spargo was consistently our best in this metric; not only is he a clever user in those situations, but he’s only really ever getting it on the outside with time to think and also often with space ahead of him for forwards to lead into. Add to that that for years our plan was to hit the pockets and create a stoppage inside 50 especially from slow plays and stoppages up the field so it’s no surprise our mids are low in this metric over the long run.

As I said, funnily enough Oliver adapted best out of our mids for the second half of the year to the new style in this regard, but his clearance numbers also fell. I’m really curious to see what King is planning from an overall game style but personally I hope he scraps the move ball at all costs stuff we toyed with in 2025, you just leak too much going the other way.

17 hours ago, Wells 11 said:

Anyone ever think how different things might be IF Oliver kicks a goal rather than that OOF in the dying minutes against Stkilda and we won?

Would Goody still be there? would Clayton? Would Judd? Sometimes these tiny margins lead to big changes.

FWIW I think Oliver will have an outstanding season at GWS in 26 . After that… we’ll see.

I'm putting my house on the fact he will have a "stellar" 2026 and make the club look premature with the King decision, and make no mistake... he wanted him GONE!

14 minutes ago, picket fence said:

I'm putting my house on the fact he will have a "stellar" 2026 and make the club look premature with the King decision, and make no mistake... he wanted him GONE!

No, i think he will have a year like Bailey Smith had, lots of possessions and media rapture, but on closer analysis will still have the disposals issue. He gets a lot of balls that mean he is under extreme pressure. His strength is his weakness.

Starting to look forward to shouting ‘THROW!’ Every time he flicks the ball out

Clayton Oliver

2025 season … averages

Kicks 10.8 above average

Handballs 14.7 elite

disposals 25.5 above average

Marks 2.9 below average

Tackles 5.4 above average

Clearances 5.5 above average

Whilst his career is overall still elite, these numbers are not that far beyond his overall career at all. Again in my view, his 2025 was good. Yes he does occasionally frustratingly butcher it under pressure, and that has always been a work in progress.

Yes we have to accept now that (no matter what the club and the player dialogue actually was) Clarry will be gone. But we have to consider what he achieved for us in the past 10 years.

Clarry has been a star for the Demons. We must appreciate him as a genuine star.

MFC 4xB&F, 2xAFLCoaches player of the year, 3xAll Australian, 2021 🏆premiership star

Career 205 games

1 hour ago, 48 Year Now said:

No, i think he will have a year like Bailey Smith had, lots of possessions and media rapture, but on closer analysis will still have the disposals issue. He gets a lot of balls that mean he is under extreme pressure. His strength is his weakness.

He gets the ball which many cannot do!

Clarry doesn't hunt the ball anymore. Just wrestles and tries to stay goal side to not get exposed on the break.

We love him and the trade will be a hard swallow but no elite players has ever returned to that status after 2 very poor years.

The club and his team mates want to move on without him.

Sad, but we will remember him as one of our greatest ever players who was amazing with the fans

19 hours ago, Wells 11 said:

Anyone ever think how different things might be IF Oliver kicks a goal rather than that OOF in the dying minutes against Stkilda and we won?

Have these type of thoughts all the time.

Imagine his set shot from the corner 50 @ the city end in the SF against Carlton late in the 4th doesn’t get touched on the line by skip.

Sighhhh

10 hours ago, DubDee said:

From recent media coverage I’m finding this hard to believe

Do you know this to be true or guessing?

*not having a crack, just wondering

You don’t have to believe me, it’s the truth tho

Clarry is never not going to have struggles. And emotional regulation and impulse control will never not be an issue.

Doesn’t mean he isn’t fitter and more mentally healthy now than he has been over the past 24 months.

He has done a mountain of work, many of it thanks to the fantastic support we’ve put around him, and that’s a credit to us and him.

I hope GWS don’t drop the ball and continue to give him the support he needs. It doesn’t matter if you like him or not, he’s a human being and nobody wants to see him suffer or spiral.

1 minute ago, Demonland said:

The Giants social media team are on point as usual 😂

1 hour ago, picket fence said:

He gets the ball which many cannot do!

Nah thats just incorrect Pickett. There are many across the AFL that can get the footy.

The days of just getting the footy for the sake of getting the footy is slowly a dying breed.

Guys like Tom Mitchell, Ollie Wines, Patrick Cripps, Jack Steele and now Oliver are examples of this where they're pretty much pidgeoned hole to just one position, and one position only due to one being lack of leg speed and also because back around 2010-2022 it was purely around contests and stoppages. The game demands players in being able to have an outside game as well because how quick sides want to transition on offence and defence.

We will start to see these types of midfielders become completely ineffective over the next year or two if they're not already.

Now its about transitioning and putting speed on the ball, something that Oliver has always lacked. He's not a metres gain player which is where the new breed of prototype midfielders are going to be more premium then we have seen before.

1 minute ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Nah thats just incorrect Pickett. There are many across the AFL that can get the footy.

The days of just getting the footy for the sake of getting the footy is slowly a dying breed.

Guys like Tom Mitchell, Ollie Wines, Patrick Cripps, Jack Steele and now Oliver are examples of this where they're pretty much pidgeoned hole to just one position, and one position only due to one being lack of leg speed and also because back around 2010-2022 it was purely around contests and stoppages. The game demands players in being able to have an outside game as well because how quick sides want to transition on offence and defence.

We will start to see these types of midfielders become completely ineffective over the next year or two if they're not already.

Now its about transitioning and putting speed on the ball, something that Oliver has always lacked. He's not a metres gain player which is where the new breed of prototype midfielders are going to be more premium then we have seen before.

The fact patty cripps was virtually ineffective all year really shows how much the game has changed.

Rowell is the only genuine ball winner at the pointy end of the Brownlow and he’s actually so underrated on the outside it’s not even funny

Just now, Ted Lasso said:

The fact patty cripps was virtually ineffective all year really shows how much the game has changed.

Rowell is the only genuine ball winner at the pointy end of the Brownlow and he’s actually so underrated on the outside it’s not even funny

Exactly right.

Rowell ability to not only explode out of contests with real speed but also spread on the outside hard and get his own footy is why he suits today's game.

Edited Saturday at 00:103 days by dazzledavey36

1 hour ago, Demon4Life said:

Clarry doesn't hunt the ball anymore. Just wrestles and tries to stay goal side to not get exposed on the break.

We love him and the trade will be a hard swallow but no elite players has ever returned to that status after 2 very poor years.

The club and his team mates want to move on without him.

Sad, but we will remember him as one of our greatest ever players who was amazing with the fans

I've accepted that it is in everyone's best interests to allow Clayton to move on, however, I can't accept any re-writing of history over this; 2025 was not a "very poor" year for him. The upward curve for Clayton in 2025 was there for everyone to see. In the final month he was hunting the ball and successfully feeding it out at levels that rivalled his best years. The challenge for him revolves around how he presents for pre-season 2026. If he presents as fit as a fiddle, I would say he has come full circle. If he has allowed himself to become lazy and careless again, the writing will be on the wall.

19 minutes ago, waynewussell said:

I've accepted that it is in everyone's best interests to allow Clayton to move on, however, I can't accept any re-writing of history over this; 2025 was not a "very poor" year for him. The upward curve for Clayton in 2025 was there for everyone to see. In the final month he was hunting the ball and successfully feeding it out at levels that rivalled his best years. The challenge for him revolves around how he presents for pre-season 2026. If he presents as fit as a fiddle, I would say he has come full circle. If he has allowed himself to become lazy and careless again, the writing will be on the wall.

Early next week that will be another club’s problem or delight and ours once or twice a year.

Edited Saturday at 00:243 days by pewpewpew

15 hours ago, Coolx2 said:

I would only take an insane offer for Oliver if GWS pay his full Wage and we pick up a couple of their fringe players otherwise it is no deal .

I am sick of this club getting screwed over.

Except we created the position we find ourselves. It would different if Oliver had said I want out but he didn't. We were IMO ham fisted with how we handled this, again IMO he has the moral high ground.

20 minutes ago, old dee said:

Except we created the position we find ourselves. It would different if Oliver had said I want out but he didn't. We were IMO ham fisted with how we handled this, again IMO he has the moral high ground.

I don't know how much it was ham-fisted by us or an over-reaction by Oliver. I doubt anyone here does.

17 hours ago, BLWNBA said:

The lunatics have been running the asylum that is Melbourne for a few years now.

Looks like they have been called to account and they don't like it. The amount of focus on our 'connection' inside 50 for the past 5 years has been insane and yet our two most prolific mids (plus you can add Viney) can't hit the side of a barn

Thats not changing any time soon so I'm glad they are having their feet held to the fire.

26 minutes ago, sue said:

I don't know how much it was ham-fisted by us or an over-reaction by Oliver. I doubt anyone here does.

Might be a little of both.

My thinking is Dees weren't quite expecting THAT reaction.