Adina88

You're proving my point: unless you provide receipts and evidence instead of merely insinuating this as proof, then you're perpetuating the problem. It's such a lazy ad hominem attack on a player at best, feeding the MFC's toxic culture at worst. Admins warned about this type of rhetoric on this board as recently as yesterday.

If you want to believe Oliver is a no-good loser, you'll see evidence of it everywhere - even when there is evidence to the contrary. Ever noticed how Oliver has round bruise marks on his back and shoulders most weeks he plays? Ever noticed the weekly Instagram posts of Oliver doing hard-core pilates? Constant sign of cupping and fitness training and rehab, off the training track. If you never noticed that, then it's YOUR blind spot. Those that continue to make unsubstantiated claims that insinuate Oliver has no professionalism, no fitness, doesn't rehab injuries, doesn't listen to coaches, is a constant distraction to others are just feeding an incessant rumour mill. It needs to stop. The first core value of MFC is 'Respect', which the club defines as 'Treating teammates, coaches, staff, members, and the broader community with dignity.' Worth remembering.

To a hammer, everything is a nail. You heard what you wanted to hear.

You obviously don’t listen to Max on his weekly radio spot. He constantly talks about our poor performance and how we’re not where we should be. He often talks about how good other teams are and his favourite players ( often not Melbourne players). He also often jokes about Entrecote! How is that not interpreted as ‘disloyalty’ or ‘putting down the club’ in the same way?

But so what if he did reference Melbourne? Are people really that oversensitive? A Melbourne player isn't allowed to talk publicly about the poor performance of the team (geez, I hope Max knows that because he jokes about it on radio every week!). But supporters certainly are allowed to talk about how bad the team/club are. Got it.

Yep. How supporters can take that comment and twist it into Oliver digging the knife into the back of every MFC supporter, thus necessitating his swift excision from the club, is mindblowing.

Go back to the original reporting by Xander McGuire, who interviewed King after the meeting - Oliver was told how the midfield was going to change in 2026, and where he fitted into that, that he'd need to adapt his game a bit to be a bit more flexible in other roles as well as midfield. He was told that there's a chance he may end up playing at Casey a bit. He was also told that if none of that was to his liking (and the club hoped that it would be), then the club would allow/welcome him to explore his options, if that's what he wanted to do. None of it was off-field issues, all of it was football. The media blew it up, Oliver reacted a day after he was ambushed at the airport, and here we are: Jumping to conclusions and can't get rid of him quick enough. A week ago, Oliver had a US holiday booked during trade week, comfortable in his belief that he was a valued part of the midfield and wasn't going anywhere. A week later, he fears the new coach hates him and he's lost his place in the club.

Reports that he did 'not react well, stormed out' come from who? Mitch Cleary. And what did Mitch actually say? That he "took off". Yeah, I'm taking off from work at 5pm today, but not in a huff slamming the door behind me - I'm just leaving. The commercial media have an interest in generating drama where there is none.

So many people have glossed over this - so quick to kick Oliver out the door now that they want to overlook that the club didn't ask him to leave at all. And he hasn't indicated at all (yet) that he wants to leave. Why are people jumping at every crumb of rumour thrown out by the media instead of listening to our own List Manager?

Of course. He wants out. He's selling a cheap trade to GC to get them to take him and cares not one whit about a deal that is acceptable to us. We're not his priority, and haven't been for some time. But King wants to bring that back inside the team if a deal falls through? Madness.

And without being inside the four walls of the club yourself, you have absolutely no idea about 'club culture'. Why the hell do the rest of the team speak so highly of him if he's such a 'cancer'? What a bizarre insinuation that on the one hand, Petracca is the most professional player in the league with the highest standards that rubs off on the rest of the team, and yet one single person can be so negative, and the rest of the team so naive and impressionable that they would be negatively influenced by someone's individual off-field health issues. Have some respect for the rest of the team as being free-thing individuals with their own agency. Stop scapegoating a single player as the bane of all the club's problems. Melbourne supporters are a weird bunch.

How is this different to holding onto a player who is at risk of another ACL? Or has a growing history of concussion? EVERY player is at risk of suffering something that actually takes them off the playing field for weeks, months, an entire year. 'Oliver is a risk' is such a cheap, below-the-belt shot, especially given it implies 'off-field issues'. Oliver has more risk of redoing a hamstring strain, or breaking his hand again than anything else.

What’s that saying? ‘Beggars can’t be choosers’. If MFC are begging another team to take Oliver, then we have no right ask for a high price. Dumbest trading decision MFC will ever make. I genuinely hope Clayton thrives in Sydney and absolutely rinses us in 2026.

Might be time for a few DLers to take a breath and review their understanding of the DL terms of service and posting guidelines. Targetted harassment of players and how apparently useless they are isn't in the spirit of good forumship.

OR, TRAC STAYS AT MFC His form continues to slide, he continues to baulk at contests, he continues to spin and dump his kicks, and kick more behinds than goals. And he might even turn his disapproving heart on his sleeve in his team mate's direction, literally, like May has in the past. His trade value drops even further when he inevitably asks for another trade in 12 month's time. Can't wait.

"His off field behaviour" - put yourself in Oliver's shoes: when is he EVER going to be allowed to get past that? Listen to anyone who actually knows Oliver and they'll say he turned a huge corner in 2025 with his training, he was highly motivated, and he was absolutely committed to the club. He gets the redundancy chat now and told that he's no longer really valued, that the club is far less committed to him than he is to them, and told he's free to explore his options. So he is. Yet EVERYTHING in the media (and this board, it seems) is focused on his "off field behaviour" from years ago. It's not hard to see why he'd feel that no matter what he does, he'll be punished for it. It's absolutely fine if you hold all players to the same exacting, unforgiving standards, but it's pretty clear most people don't.

What a pile-on. You can’t fault Oliver for being brutally honest in saying GWS and/or Collingwood’s training facilities are better than Casey. He speaks the truth and yet he’s still crucified for it.

Let's not forget Trac shopped himself to Collingwood last year outside any involvement of his manager; Trac asking for a trade and saying he wants GC still does not guarantee GC went into a meeting willing to part with anything other than picks. Trac needs/wants GC more than GC needs Trac. He has so little hand in all of this, even though he was the one who pulled the original trigger. The latest creak in my knee is telling me MFC plays hardball and the whole deal falls through.

The problem with a deal not going through now is that if he's not traded this year, then there's even less chance he'll be traded next year, which he's 100% guaranteed to ask for. It's kind of now or never - and the question is how much the club is willing for this circus to keep rolling, every, damn, year: stop the hurdy-gurdy, I wanna get off. Trade him (but don't blink - no unders).

I'm not quite sure why you think Petracca deserves all the sympathy/empathy and Oliver deserves none. Either way, let's set the record straight on a couple of things, hopefully for the final time because this off-field melodrama is really tiring: The Club didn't visit Christian while he was off injured because medically, no-one was allowed to visit him. Spleen injuries = immuno-compromise = no non-family visitors. The story that no-one from the club contacted him is also not true: Christian himself was interviewed by the Club in a sitdown at one point (remember that? On his couch?) and he admitted that he'd had plenty of phonecalls from the Club. He also admits that for a period of time he just didn't pick up the phone. Be emotional about it all you want, but let's not rewrite history to suit a narrative.

IMHO, I think Trac sees himself very much as a performer. On the field, off the field, in front of a camera, in the kitchen. I think he’s one of those people who is very good at saying what he thinks is the right thing to say, and what people want to hear. But does he mean it? Not necessarily. I’d take everything he’s said in the past with a grain of salt.

I don't see how King sees Petracca as a central part of 2026 if CP himself doesn't. Now, maybe the latter is news to him, but I can't see a world where CP walks back into the club and it being a good thing. That bridge is well and truly burnt. Agreed the Club MUST not take unders for him, but will they blink and take unders just to get rid of him now? God, what a dilemma.

CP in 2024 choosing Collingwood. I'm only half-joking. Ivan Soldo, I believe?

Absolute hyperbole. For a start, you can take ANB's name out of your mouth if you're insinuating he left because of 'club culture'. He made it absolutely clear his move home had ZERO to do with football. Have some respect.

That's harsh. For all of Clarry's faults, he's the first to admit he has them and has been transparent about the impact it has on others, and that he's needed to improve himself. There's others in the club who I would trust far, far less than Clarry.