Melbourne great Garry Lyon is thrilled that Clayton Oliver has been named to play in the club’s Opening Round clash against Sydney on Thursday night.
After a turbulent off-season that saw him involved in trade talks, suffer a medical episode, be charged for a driving incident and take an extended break from pre-season, it appeared highly unlikely that the 26-year-old would be right to go for the start of the season.
Once you add in that Oliver only returned to full training in January and completed two VFL practice matches across the summer, captain Max Gawn admitted he was inspired by the midfielder’s successful push to return to the senior side.
Lyon has no doubts that Oliver can get back to his All-Australian best in 2024 if he continues to make improvements off the field given that the gun on-baller was previously on track to become perhaps Melbourne’s greatest ever player.
“He could (get back to his best), from a pure footy point of view there are absolutely no issues in the world,” Lyon told SEN WA The Run Home.
“I expect if he's on this area of improvement away from footy, that he can be an All-Australian again.
“I think he's won four best and fairests, he’s on track to be arguably Melbourne's greatest ever player.
“I don't know if that sounds a bit bullish, there's a few of the current-day players that can put their hand up (to be the club’s greatest ever).
“There's no player more important to a team than Max Gawn and Christian Petracca's outstanding, but Oliver's pretty special.”
Lyon, who acted as an independent peacemaker of sorts during the trade talk saga, has a close relationship with Oliver and he thinks that the Demon needs footy in his life.
Now that Oliver is back to playing footy, Lyon thinks that he’s been able to work through some of his issues and has the ability to get back to being a top 10 player in the competition.
“I'm pretty reasonably close to him, and I know a little bit about what's going on and he needs footy in his life,” Lyon said.
“He had that bad hamstring for the first time for a long time where he wouldn't play any footy and he found a bit of trouble.
“He’s back, touch wood, he's grown a bit and matured a bit, and sometimes you’ve got to go through these things to work out how important footy is to you.
“If he's right, then there's no question he's a top 10 player in the competition. No question at all.”
Given his relationship with Oliver, Lyon was asked whether he was motivated to return by proving everyone wrong or to pay back Melbourne for the support they showed him across his career so far and throughout the turbulent summer.
“It's a really good question and only Clayton can answer it,” Lyon replied.
“The motivation for every player differs. But I don't care what it is.
“I hope he's got some gratitude for Melbourne and their willingness to, first of all, give him the opportunity to establish himself and become a very wealthy young man for doing something that he loves.
“But also, if he wants to use the ‘stick it up 'em’, motivation as well, then that doesn't worry me at all as long as he's healthy.”
Lyon also thinks that Oliver has learned some valuable lessons from facing his challenges and that for the first time in a while, the club is confident that he’s getting on top of his battles.
“To be perfectly honest through all of this footy got pushed aside a fair bit. I think you guys would be able to see my mindset,” Lyon said.
“Sometimes, you’ve got to have a whole career before you realise that footy is not the be-all and end-all of everything. Getting him healthy was the most important thing.
“He's got some challenges. He had some lifestyle challenges, but also he's got some genuine medical issues that he's got to be on top of and I think for the first time in a while the confidence is there that he's got a pretty good hand on it.”
Oliver has been named in the starting midfield for Thursday’s clash against the Swans at the SCG. The bounce for the season opener is set for 7:30pm (AEDT).
