0livers Army

There’s no doubt this guy is one of the best ever players to pull on the red and blue. His 2017-mid 2023 inclusive period is the single most consistently high performing period I’ve witnessed by a Melbourne player. Even now, reading some of the comments on this thread, his current output is being underrated purely because of how high he set the bar. The thing that can’t be argued is he is statistically one of the best midfielders ever. In the top echelon for disposal, contested possessions, clearances and even score involvements relative to others playing his position. But the thing that really sets him apart and in my opinion has never been fully appreciated outside MFC is what he does off the ball. Contrary to popular media opinion, at his best he was one of the best 2 way runners in the game, and his intercept possessions for a midfielder were off the charts for a long time. He’s dropped off in this area a tad since the hammy, hand issues and off field issues (apparently he is human) but at the game on Sunday I saw signs that this part of his game is returning. It’s no coincidence our defense basically never conceded 100 points while Oliver was at his peak. Along with an elite back 6, having peak Oliver was like playing with an extra player to intercept in front of D50. Add to all of the above that he’s got the cleanest hands I’ve seen of any AFL player (only saw G Williams in his twilight) and is one of the most creative by hand, he’s already a legend of this club. Of course a popular highlight was the goal in the granny, but I’d also note he has the 4th highest rated game since they started measuring player ratings. Only behind Buddy and Le Cras with bags of 12+ and S Johnson in the 186 game with 7 goals and 10 goal assists. He basically should’ve won that 2021 game against Adelaide off his own boot while the rest of the team were down if not for a couple of terrible calls in the last minute (and many others throughout the game). It’s arguably the best game by a midfielder ever. Let this sink in: from the start of 2021 to mid 2023 Oliver played 61 games and polled coaches votes in 51 games. That includes losses. It doesn’t include finals in that period in which he never failed to get 15 contested possessions and was in the best for 4 out of the 5. The start of 2023 is sometime forgotten for how good he was because of what happened after the hammy. He polled coaches votes in 9 of the first 10 games. That includes the game vs Port where he did a serious hammy in the third quarter and (maybe unwisely in retrospect) continued to play the game out. The only game he didn’t poll votes in was the Gather Round game against Essendon where he got 41 touches and 25 contested possessions while copping a heavy tag! I can’t see an argument where any Melbourne player is compared to Oliver in terms of overall output other than Barrassi, Flower and Gawn.