layzie

I'm just trying to show that despite some of the criticism, I'm very confident that everyone here loves Clayton and is not trying to disrespect him in any way. Your views are a good example of this, some might not like but why would you, someone who turns up every week want to disrespect one of our stars for no reason? I would hope that people don't associate hate with everything that isn't pom pom waving support.

Pretty much nailed exactly how I'm feeling Jaded. We can only judge by what we see on the field, this can be a good and bad thing. The fact is we just don't know what is happening behind closed doors. For all we know, the guy could be slugging it out on the track at the moment but simply down on confidence, which most of us know can make any of us a shell of ourselves at work/home/anywhere. The one thing you can't accuse Clayton of is complaining and he's obviously doing the best he can in the spot he's in. I was happy for the initial critique of his game on Sat but it's time to move past that. I'm ready to see what he can do on Fri night. He needs our support and we'll give it.

Quick poll: How many of you here who frequent Demonland hate Clayton Oliver and wish nothing but the worst for him? Anyone? Didn't think so..

There is nothing either embarrassing or shocking but the AFL makes it so!

You just never know. Remember 2002.

Here will do, ta.

It's clear what he needs to do, keep working hard at it and do his thing. What we need to do as a team is give him the support he needs, if he does have someone sit on him, I'd like to see teammates aware of this and make life a bit tough for the tagger. We also need everyone in the side doing their part from back to front. He may have had a down game on Sat but this doesn't mean we suddenly became a one man team overnight. The criticisms have been made and though some were fair it's time to get on with it and get ready for Fri night. We're all with you Claz.

It amazes me how flippantly that word gets used in the media. That word set the ball rolling for the dismissal of our greatest ever coach. Now instead of ranting and raving with the sensationalist statements, I'd like these media guys to explain what actually is a sling tackle. Is it the action itself? Is it only a sling tackle when the head hits the ground. Some more informative journalism wouldn't go astray.

I want Clarry here long term but I must say it's really clever how people are getting the over-emotional attacking of other people's opinions out of their systems on this thread. Some people need to grow up.

Couldn't be more stoked with this opportunity. He's worked damn hard and is finally being rewarded. His closing speed will be an asset and he'll add to our defensive pressure wherever it's needed on the ground. Go get em AMW!

He did everything you said. Good job!

Hmmm, maybe you actually need to have them to win games of footy 😜

Very true. He's so stubborn but a total nitwit for changing the gameplan this year. You'd think he wanted to evolve or something.

I'd take that each week.

No-one worth their salt on this board is trying to disrespect Clayton Oliver. We all know what he's given us and we all know what he's been through. We don't know what is happening internally but on the other hand we can only judge on what we see on the field and the fact is that his performance is not what it was. But all this 'don't mention the war' talk and people not being able to criticise is madness. Yes there is a trade thread on here discussing trade situations, this is meant to be pure hypothetical and an emotion free zone. If you can't handle this then I strongly suggest you stay out of that thread. I do have sympathy for Clayton and absolutely want to give him a chance to get back to his best, he doesn't have the breakaway speed at the moment and I still occasionally wonder about that hand and if it's impacting his ability to get quick handballs off cleanly. Then there is the mental side that we don't know about, confidence and belief can't be turned on like a tap. These things are a given, the fact of the matter is that he has gone from being an untaggable mid to someone who you can quiet easily if you sit on him and I don't need to tell all of you but the club needs to figure this out soon. He's been through the ringer but has credits in the bank, they've probably had no choice but to play him in games to build that fitness back and I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing good form towards the end of the year. We all love Clayton Oliver and want nothing but the best for him, but we also love freedom of speech and shouldn't be silencing people for making discussion.

Just finished reading 1984 so I hereby dub Max Gawn 'Gentlebloke'

I think the idea was to NOT get triggered on this thread 🤣

You've all lost me at Fritsch out.

First I've heard of this. Thought he played most of his junior footy in the Maroubra/Malabar area?

I've always had a theory that a good team doesn't go goalless in a quarter of footy. Once in a blue moon is acceptable, the fact that we've had 6 already this year is alarming.

'Knows where to run' Can't believe I'm saying this but we need that badly right now.

Take the general staging element out of it for a sec. Yes there's plenty of it that goes unpunished blah blah I agree. Opening up the phone lines and specifically zeroing in on staging in a sling tackle... A) Can you differentiate between this and say a ducked high tackle from a small forward? Was this simply easier to catch him out on as you can disguise knew dropping better than banging your head against the ground? B) Secondly is this the first fine for staging in a sling tackle?

Oliver had an interrupted pre season but people still claiming that he's underdone after 14 games doesn't gel. The guy used to be 'untaggable' and even when you sat someone on him he'd have 25 touches, now all of a sudden he gets a hard tag and looks human. I know he's been through a lot but if I was told in January that despite playing every game to this point we weren't going to have something even close to the Clarry of old and it would be a major cause of a slump, I wouldn't be too excited. My question for tonight: Why aren't we rewarding players who show obvious ticker? In the dying minutes ANB's smother and Brown's tackle were characteristic of these players, why do we persist in not rewarding someone like Taj Woewodin who displays these traits as well?

Sounds like a guy in the crowd at Jerry Seinfeld last night who saw him in Sydney and then bought a ticket to the Melb show just so he could ask him in front of 11,000 people if he could have the selfie he promised in Sydney.

Gee glad I didn't come on here today.. To see one of the better and solid contributors to DL get torn down for stating a perfectly valid opinion is embarrassing. This is why so many including myself are limiting their time on here, it's really sad how many great posters aren't even on here anymore. It's not changing anytime soon so enjoy the toboggan ride.