The Hit List Volume Three – Clayton Oliver

 

This time last year, Clayton Oliver was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

In a season he termed “a bit of a stinker”, the absence of the player we once knew in the middle hurt the Demons. But there is time to recover, and 2025 provides this opportunity.

In this series, I will be taking a look at some of the big names in the game that, for one reason or another, need to lift this season.

For some, it is their own form, for others, it is coming back from injury. And for others, still, it is because their club desperately needs them to be at their best when to contend this season.

What does a fit and firing Clayton Oliver mean for Melbourne?

What does a fit and firing Clayton Oliver mean for the man, himself?

A quick perusal of the plaudits Oliver has received over his first eight seasons of AFL footy read like that of an all-time great in the making. Four Bluey Truscott Medals as the Dees’ Best and Fairest player, three All-Australian selections, two AFLCA Champion Player of the Year Awards, and a premiership medallion in the mix, as well, the Demons’ red menace was just 25, and had the football world at his feet.

However, in a reminder of just how fleeting success can be, Clayton fell from grace amid a mix of rumour and injury, resulting in his worst individual season in… well, ever. Yep, his 2024 was worse than his first year in the competition in terms of impact, if not statistically.

He is now 27 – still right in the middle of his prime years. Can he turn it around in 2025?

 

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