Clayton Oliver in big development amid ongoing Melbourne Demons drama
The Demons star ended up in hospital earlier this year amid a series of well-publicised off-field struggles.
Melbourne Demons CEO Gary Pert has revealed star midfielder Clayton Oliver is "in a great headspace" after an AFL season in 2023 punctuated by a number of off-field struggles. Oliver was put on notice by Pert and Demons coach Simon Goodwin in October amid ongoing concerns around his off-field behaviour.
The midfielder, who is contracted until 2030, ended up in hospital in October, following what the club deemed to be a "medical episode". Oliver also spent time living at the home of Melbourne teammate Max Gawn and his wife, Jessica.
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The midfielder's struggles came as Joel Smith was provisionally suspended for recording a positive in-season drugs test for cocaine. In an extraordinary open letter to fans in October, Pert and Goodwin addressed the off-field controversies at the club but denied the Demons had a culture problem.
"The club is aware of the personal challenges that Clayton has outside of football and key club experts will remain part of his daily support team," Pert wrote. "Club leaders have very clearly outlined to Clayton the behavioural expectations that we have of him, and these behaviours will be reviewed on a regular basis."
Speaking at Melbourne's annual members footy forum on Tuesday night, the Demons CEO provided a positive update on Oliver. The 26-year-old is recovering from a minor knee operation, but returned to pre-season training with the Melbourne squad earlier than required.
"He wants to be part of something really special," Pert said about Oliver, before describing him as being "100 per cent all in" with the club. The Demons CEO once again addressed the criticism levelled at the club in the wake of the Oliver saga and Smith's ban for testing positive to an illicit drug.
Demons CEO hits back at critics of club culture
"There's been some quite high-profile player incidents in the off-season," Pert admitted. "I want to reassure all Melbourne members and supporters.... the culture of the Melbourne FC is very strong and very resilient, and it starts with these guys here (the club's leadership). It's a very strong and aligned culture.
"A strong culture is about calling out when individuals aren't in alignment with the culture, about holding people accountable. We will have challenges of people not being in alignment... (but) we'll continue to drive our cultural programs through our leaders.
"I think it is a competitive edge of ours (the culture) and it's being driven by the best group of leaders I've seen. All individuals within our high-performance program will continue to get the expert support they need for their personal needs," he said. "The club is absolutely there to support those individuals."
The Demons came under fire after suffering a second consecutive straight-sets exit from the AFL finals in 2023, despite finishing in the top-four. Melbourne are now 0-4 in the finals since their drought-breaking AFL premiership triumph in 2021, with Goodwin vowing 2024 would be different after club great Garry Lyon described the end of their season as a "failure".
"We just didn't win the moments that mattered in the finals - they are the facts," Goodwin said. "We weren't able to execute in front of goal, we didn't maximise our entry and that's the first thing we looked at when we came back in (for pre-season. One goal a game takes us from sixth to first (among) the best offensive teams."
Goodwin insisted the team would learn from their disappointing finals exits over the last two seasons and was confident an improvement will come in 2024. "We're not going to live under a rock. We're going to look for the opportunities, we're going to look for the growth," the Demons coach said. "We're going to drive winning behaviours and ultimately, hopefully, by the end of (next season) ... you'll be pretty happy."
with agencies
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