Clayton Oliver will face Melbourne in Alice Springs on Sunday for the first time since his trade to GWS, but the 28-year-old is trying not to turn it into a homecoming. When asked about the spotlight, he brushed it off with a grin and renamed it the “Bedford, Hogan, and Oliver Cup.”
That matchup carries weight because Oliver’s move at the end of last season ended a decade at Melbourne, where he won four club champion awards, three All-Australian blazers, two AFLCA Champion Player of the Year awards and the 2021 premiership. Even so, he said he is “just going to treat it like another game,” even while acknowledging he has been “pretty pumped all year” for what he called a big week.
Oliver’s first response to the question of what Sunday means was to reach for humour. The reference to Toby Bedford and Jesse Hogan underlined how much of the focus around GWS this week has been on the trio of former Demons rather than the match itself, even as Oliver said he has a lot of great memories and great mates at Melbourne.
He also made clear the split from his old club has been settling rather than bitter. Oliver said he is loving his new chapter with the Giants and that being away from Melbourne has been really refreshing, adding that the club and city feel welcoming. He has now played 11 games in orange and charcoal, and his disposal and clearance numbers are trending upwards as he settles into the side.
That form is one reason the game matters beyond the emotion of the reunion. Oliver said Toby Bedford has been amazing for him and probably the reason he came up to GWS, describing Bedford as his housemate and best mate and saying living with him made the move feel easier after he had felt unsure even after signing.
The friction in Sunday’s game is that Oliver is treating it like any other contest while carrying a very different history into it. He remains close to Max Gawn, Bayley Fritsch and Christian Salem, and he said Melbourne has been playing well under Steven King, with more scoring and freedom than in recent seasons. That leaves him in the unusual position of facing former teammates while insisting the occasion does not change the job in front of him.
For Oliver, the first meeting with Melbourne is less about a farewell and more about what comes next: another step in his GWS career, and a first chance to show how his game looks against the club that shaped it for 10 years.
