Melbourne champion Garry Lyon says he’s “horrified” at the prospect of Clayton Oliver leaving the Demons this trade period amid suggestions of a fracturing between the superstar midfielder and his club.
After AFL Media on Tuesday floated that rival clubs saw Oliver as a genuine target this off-season, SEN reported the Demons were “open” to trading him – but only for the right price.
It was a stunning pre-trade period development surrounding Oliver, who’s regarded as not only one of Melbourne’s best players, but one of the biggest stars in the AFL.
Taken by the Demons with Pick 4 in the 2015 draft, Oliver has put together an exceptional AFL career to date. As well as being part of Melbourne’s drought-breaking 2021 premiership team, he’s won four club best and fairests and two AFLCA Champion Player of the Year awards, while he’s also earned All-Australian selection three times.
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Oliver endured a difficult 2023 campaign, primarily due to consistent injury setbacks that cost him half the season. SEN reported Oliver grew frustrated with the club’s medical and high-performance team, while the Demons were disappointed in Oliver’s lack of professionalism during his rehab.
But the 26-year-old is locked into a seven-year contract – worth around $7 million – that ties him to the Demons until 2030. He signed that deal in June 2022.
Multiple reports have indicated the Demons have already fielded inquiries from rival clubs about Oliver, who hasn’t indicated to Melbourne he wants to be traded. The Demons insisted to 7 News Melbourne on Tuesday night that Oliver wasn’t going anywhere, but SEN reported the Dees were “making it clear the club is open to discussions” about trading Oliver – only if a rival team puts forward the right offer.
Speaking on SEN Breakfast on Wednesday morning, five-time All-Australian Lyon said he was stunned by the developments surrounding his former club and one of his current favourite players.
“I couldn’t believe what I was reading,” Lyon told SEN Breakfast.
“I’m horrified at the prospect. You know he’s one of my all-time favourites, I’m horrified at the thought that this (trade could happen).”
Lyon later added: “If I’m other clubs, 100 per cent I’m doing all of that (asking the question of Melbourne). But you’re saying this is not a foregone conclusion. So from that point of view, (if I’m Melbourne) I’m saying: ‘Hey, just cool here. This is a generational midfield talent right now who at 26 years of age has done some stuff not many have done.’”
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Lyon said Melbourne needed to assess whether Oliver’s suggested issues were “insurmountable or resolveable”.
“This is a generational midfield talent right now, who at 26 has done some stuff (on the field) that not many have done,” Lyon said.
“They’re bloody hard to come by, midfielders that rack up 30 touches every week and get the contested possessions and the clearances numbers you need, consistently.”
Essendon legend and Lyon’s SEN Breakfast co-host Tim Watson said the developments on Tuesday were “extraordinary”
“Something’s happened, somewhere,” Watson told SEN Breakfast.
“It’s unsettling when you’re a fan of a club and you read this. There’d be a lot of Melbourne fans waking up to this news this morning and thinking: ‘What the hell is going on?’ And a lot of people will dismiss the story … But there potentially is (something on it).
“There must be some form of disconnect right now.”
Four-time Power best and fairest winner Kane Cornes labelled it “a strange story” as he took aim at Melbourne’s decision to hand Oliver a seven-year contract extension, which officially kicks in when the player returns for pre-season training.
“This deal hasn’t even started, he’s one of their best players ever and they’re looking to trade him. I’m suspicious of this, I think there must be serious issues off the field happening for this to even be considered,” Cornes told AFL Trade Radio on Wednesday morning.
“(The long-term deal) is fraught with danger. There is a subconscious level of comfortability that comes by having that long-term tenure. If they (the Dees) are worried about his professionalism, well that comes because he knows regardless of what happens, he gets paid $1 million a year for seven years – regardless whether he gets a kick, whether he plays or trains like he had when he was hunting for this deal.
“This would be an embarrassing situation for Melbourne now.”
Senior AFL media reporter Damian Barrett said there were legitimate questions around a disconnect between Oliver and Melbourne.
“I don’t know anyone outside the club would know the full specifics of what happened, but obviously the hamstring injury that he had, the narrative the club had – particularly his coach Simon Goodwin, who four or five weeks in a row promised he was right to play the next week and then he didn’t play and then they put that on ice for some time towards the back end of it. He got back to the team, his numbers were OK, but the impact wasn’t what it was. That was understandable considering the time he had missed,” Barrett told AFL Trade Radio on Tuesday.
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“But something went down, by way of their relationship, during the course of the year and you do wonder if there was a fracturing nature significant enough to actually have these conversations play out particularly in this current trade period.”
Former Crows leading goalkicker Josh Jenkins said Oliver would become the centrepiece of this year’s trade period should the situation around his playing future ramp up.
“People were telling me it’s going to be a bit quieter this year, but I don’t subscribe to that at all. I just think the whole industry is evolving into this space where almost no one is untradeable or untouchable,” Jenkins told AFL Trade Radio.
“He’s one of Melbourne’s best ever … One of the greatest resumes of a Melbourne player of all-time – and he’s only 50 to 60 per cent of the way through his career. At his best, Clayton Oliver is as good as it gets in terms of hunting the footy and getting his hands on the footy.
“If anything more comes of it and his name continues to bubble away and things start to become more real, that will be the focus of the trade period.”
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