Kane Cornes has blasted Melbourne for the mismanagement of Clayton Oliver’s hamstring injury.
The star midfielder remains sidelined with the injury he first sustained in Round 10 against Port Adelaide and this week suffered a setback in his recovery.
It has been some sort of saga ever since with Oliver pushing to train just two days after the loss to the Power, setting off a number of events which included him spending time in hospital with an infected blister and most recently involved in a fiery exchange with strength and conditioning coach Selwyn Griffith.
Cornes described it as “The Demon Debacle”.
It prompted a conversation on SEN Breakfast with David King who was also critical of the way the Demons have handled Oliver’s injury.
King asked: “What is going on with Clayton Oliver and the never-ending rehab program that had him training two days after the original injury?
“He trained 48 hours after doing the hamstring and we haven’t seen him since.”
Cornes believes it is the worst management of an injury he can recall.
“I can’t remember an injury that has been managed this poorly,” he said.
“Clearly we’re not medical experts and this sounds like a complicated one. There was an infection and a blister, but I don’t know what was going on.”
King added: “I don’t even believe the infection.”
Cornes continued: “And you’re right not to because the transparency from the football club has been a disgrace.
“Until Simon Goodwin cleared this up after the rumours came out and told us exactly what was going on. Credit to them, since that point, since Goodwin came out so strongly post-game, it’s been better.
“But this is another example of clubs just treating their fans like fools.
“The management of his injury has been a disaster and whether he gets back this year, I’ve got no idea.”
Oliver was initially listed as TBC before the club said it would be a one-week absence.
Both Cornes and King have been critical of the way some clubs have communicated their injury list to supporters this year, with this just another case of that.
King believes incoming CEO Andrew Dillon can move to clear all this sort of confusion up when he steps in.
King said further: “And the AFL allowing it.
“That’s my pet hate in the game at the moment.
“They can correct this with some stiff penalties, like they do in international codes.
“If Andrew Dillon wants to come in and make a significant shift and statement on day one, he corrects this nonsense about how you name your team, your 22 and your sub, changing players late in the piece, and this nonsense of short term, medium term, long term, not injured, injured.”
The Demons revealed on Thursday that Oliver’s hamstring is a “complex” injury that does not allow him to reach full speed.
As a result, he is expected to miss up to four weeks as he strives to get the problem area right for a finals assault.
Without Oliver, Melbourne will look to bounce back from last week’s narrow loss to GWS when they take on St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.