Fresh details behind Demons sounding out rivals over Oliver emerge as greats call for trade

Three premiership greats believe the time is right for Clayton Oliver and Melbourne to part ways in the wake of events that led to the star midfielder meeting with senior Cats officials.

One year after several rival clubs showed interest in Oliver and the Demons briefly considered trading him – before holding firm – Oliver has again emerged as a significant trade narrative.

Despite Oliver being in a better physical and mental place now compared to 12 months ago, The Age reported this week that Melbourne chief executive Gary Pert in recent weeks had made contact “with a number of teams” around whether they had any interest in acquiring Oliver during the AFL exchange period.

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9 News Melbourne journalist Tom Morris on Tuesday night reported Oliver felt “hurt by being pushed out” – which is what led to a meeting with Geelong chief executive Steve Hocking and football boss Andrew Mackie earlier in the day. Morris added: “I’m told the meeting went very well.”

The Age on Wednesday reported Oliver then had a second secret meeting with the Cats on Tuesday, travelling to Rhys Stanley’s farm to meet with the Geelong ruck and vice-captain Tom Stewart.

But SEN journalist Sam Edmund reported on Wednesday that Oliver’s “recent behaviour has again tested the patience of some teammates”. Edmund added the Dees had been left “disappointed in some things he has not committed to”, but reported Simon Goodwin and Melbourne’s coaching staff were keen for Oliver to remain at the club.

Should Oliver request a trade away from the Demons, it wouldn’t be a straightforward deal, considering he still has six years to run on a Melbourne contract reportedly worth up to $10 million.

But several premiership players, including Richmond legend Jack Riewoldt, suggested it’d be best for both parties if Oliver moved on from the Dees.

“There’s been too much happen now that the opportunity is arising for Clayton to potentially go a separate way and for Melbourne to get some sort of remuneration back for him as well,” Riewoldt told Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Monday night.

“I just think at the moment, if we’re going to see the best of Clayton Oliver going forward, it’s going to be in different colours.

“Now, there’s obviously a trade that still has to be done – and there’s still a fair bit of length to go on Clayton’s contract as well – so there’s some water to go under the bridge.”

Australian Football Hall of Fame legend Leigh Matthews said the situation at Melbourne had become “messy”.

“Remember that Moneyball movie where you could just transfer a player and his contract to another club, the player didn’t get any choice in it? I’m sure we’ll get closer to that as time goes on,” Matthews said on 3AW’s Wide World of Sports on Tuesday night.

“At the moment, I think players’ rights are heavily weighted. According to what we’re hearing, Melbourne might have had some behind-the-scenes conversations about ‘have you got any interest in Clayton Oliver’, but they don’t really want to be saying that publicly because if nothing happens, Clayton Oliver is rightly going to feel ‘I’m not that wanted here at the club’.

“It’s a bad vibe for Melbourne. There’s nothing good about what is popping up these last few days.”

“To think that if there was a conversation – like we read, it might’ve been Gary Pert who might’ve spoken to another CEO, ‘you got any interest in Clayton Oliver’ – if that happened and you thought it was not going to become public, that’s a mistake in itself.

“If Clayton Oliver is aware the question is being asked about you to other clubs … as soon as you feel you’re not really wanted, it’s easy to entertain going somewhere else.”

Four-time Power best and fairest winner Kane Cornes said the Demons were “doing the right thing”.

“The language that Tom Morris has been using when he’s been reporting on this is that Clayton was a little bit blindsided by the fact that they had floated his name with other clubs. Like, how naive he’s been throughout this whole process and those that are around him and his team or his management service, surely they’re not surprised by this?” Cornes said on AFL Trade Radio.

“I just have no criticism whatsoever around Melbourne, other than getting sucked in to paying him what they did a few seasons ago with the contract that they rewarded him for, which was always going to lead to some complacency, like it does with a lot of players.

“I would be exploring every avenue to move him out of the club and clear up your salary cap space and get in some players that really want to drive the standards of the Melbourne Football Club – because that’s exactly what they need. Melbourne need a seismic shift in terms of their culture and the way that they have gone about things since they won that premiership – and maybe this is that seismic shift.”