Melbourne are unmoved by Clayton Oliver’s desire to become a Cat.
A club source, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the situation, said on Friday afternoon the Demons would not entertain a deal to release the premiership onballer and four-time club champion from his multimillion-dollar contract, which has six years left to run.
Melbourne are making a call on Clayton OliverCredit: Getty Images
The club is expected to address the Oliver situation at its best and fairest dinner on Friday night, following a week of drama during which this masthead reported that Demons CEO Gary Pert had made contact with a number of teams to test interest in a potential trade, and that the 27-year-old met with senior Geelong officials and players amid a Cats bid to lure him to GMHBA Stadium.
The Oliver situation has evolved quickly and continues to do so, with Demons officials refusing to make any public comments about his future on Friday. Before Oliver met the Cats, the Demons said he was a “contracted, required member of the team”, and they were holding this line internally in the hours before the best and fairest count.
Should the Dees shut down a trade, it will be the second time in as many years that they have initially floated him on the trade market only to hold him to his contract.
Oliver decided after his meetings with the Cats that he wanted to be part of their star-studded midfield in 2025, but both he and Geelong also recognised that any trade would be difficult and complex.
This masthead reported on Thursday that Geelong were only prepared to pay the full amount, or near the full amount, of Oliver’s nearly $8 million contract if the draft cost in a trade was heavily discounted.
The Demons would otherwise have to stump up some of his contract, which averages close to $1.3 million a year.
Melbourne captain Max Gawn voiced his frustrations about the situation on Triple M radio on Friday morning.
“My role in this is people ask for my opinion. But I don’t sit in list management, and I don’t want to sit in list management. So, I can share my opinion – which I’m not going to share now – and in fact, I’m getting a little bit annoyed about how many of our opinions are getting out, so that is quite concerning and something we will need to address,” Gawn said.
“I love Clayton the player, but I love Clayton the person a whole lot more. I’m going to be there (for him) no matter what, throughout anything, good or bad. I hope Clayton knows that. Sometimes you can think your captain is involved in a few things… I promise I’m not, I’m there to put my arm around Clayton.”
On Thursday night Geelong vice captain Tom Stewart confirmed this masthead’s report about his meeting with Oliver, who also met with the Cats’ CEO Steve Hocking.
Stewart and premiership ruckman Rhys Stanley invited Oliver to Stanley’s farm outside Geelong on Tuesday.
“It was good. Obviously any sort of talent we can attract to the club is important for us,” Stewart told Seven.
“So I had the opportunity to meet with him, and it’s an interesting thing for me in my stage of the career, but it went well – he’s a good man.
“It’s not really (about) pitching anything, it’s just sort of enlightening him as to what we’re about at the footy club and the things that we hold dear and the things that we really value.
“There’s a lot of things that need to happen if a potential deal gets done but if we can attract talent to the club, that’s what we’re about.”
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