Melbourne has hit Clayton Oliver with an ultimatum – shape up or ship off.
Fed-up Demons officials have told their troubled midfielder that they need a commitment from him that he will once again conform to the standards and expectations the club demands.
They have made a series of demands to Oliver that include the need to treat club staff with respect, teammates with respect, prepare the way he should and to turn up to training in the proper condition.
It can be revealed that Melbourne’s reluctance to squash the frenzied trade talk surrounding the 26-year-old is exclusively due to its exasperation with Oliver’s increasingly erratic behaviour.
Oliver is said to have lost his way at times during a campaign interrupted by injury, but his behaviour since the Dees’ straight-sets finals demise has concerned many at club headquarters.
Sources with an intimate knowledge of the rocky Oliver-Demons relationship described this as football’s version of an intervention rather than a push to the exit door.
Equally, Oliver had made clear his dissatisfaction with his club to various sections of the AFL industry.
It’s this ill-will that that has seen rival clubs smell blood in the water and some even confident of pulling off an enormous trade coup.
In recent days, however, Oliver has shown a willingness to return to the fold. He has put his hand up to say that his living arrangements and social lifestyle hasn’t been befitting of an AFL player.
Max Gawn has also opened the door of his home to Oliver, who has recently moved in with the captain and his family.
Insiders said Melbourne was making no apologies for setting the standards they believe are critical to success in professional sport.
Demons officials have been eager to support, nurture and even protect Oliver as he navigated some challenges this year and in many cases they have done so on external advice.
But Oliver’s downward spiral has forced the club to take a harder stance and it’s that stance that has set the trade period alight.
It’s a stance that rekindles memories of Dustin Martin touring the GWS facilities in 2013, Steve Johnson doing the same at Collingwood in 2006 and even Jordan De Goey last year coming close to joining St Kilda.
Melbourne categorically do not want to trade Oliver, a four-time best and fairest winner and a triple All-Australian with a lucrative seven-year contract in place, unless he makes it impossible to be retained.
Oliver has not told Melbourne he wants to be traded.
