Melbourne list boss Tim Lamb has put an end to the Clayton Oliver trade speculation in a tense, at-times awkward press conference on the opening day of trade period at Marvel Stadium.
Lamb wore a rapid-fire series of pointed questions about Oliver’s meeting with Geelong, being a trade target for rival clubs for a second straight year, club CEO Gary Pert speaking to other clubs about Oliver and Christian Petracca’s angst with the club.
Below is an edited selection of those questions, and Lamb’s answers.
Is there any chance Clayton plays at a different club in 2025?
Tim Lamb: No.
Staying put: Demons star Clayton Oliver.Credit: Simon Schluter
Can you explain what happened with the contact from Melbourne to another club about his future. Melbourne fans are confused. What happened?
What I’ll say is that’s a good question, I understand it. This time of year, there are a lot of conversations with a lot of clubs about a lot of things. I’m not going to go into details about who was spoken about. We have a really united list management group, and any conversation that’s had with any club about a player comes back to that list management group. But as I said, there are a lot of things that come across our desk. There are a lot of things that go the other way. Our position has never changed. We’ve never been trading Clayton, and we won’t be.
Is it a regrettable situation?
I’d rather not be answering the question. But I don’t think regrettable. As I said, unfortunately, this time of year there are a lot of things that get spoken about, and unfortunately, sometimes they get out into the public but again, we’re comfortable with where we sit and Clayton knows that he won’t be going anywhere.
Is he disaffected?
I think any player would rather their name not be in the public arena. I think that’s fair. But ‘Claz’ is a Melbourne person. He knows how valuable he is. We’re really proud of Clayton, and how far he’s come this year, and we’re really looking forward to him having a terrific season next year.
Has the club as a whole mismanaged this situation over the last 12 months?
Oh, no, no, no. I think the work we’ve done with ‘Claz’, and the work that ‘Claz’ has done himself, has been outstanding. He’s obviously had a couple of challenges over the journey. He’s got himself into a really good spot. So, no, I wouldn’t agree with that.
Man of the moment: Clayton Oliver is the centre of attention at the Demons.Credit: Getty Images
Why is the CEO having conversations with another club if you never had any intention of trading him?
As I said, there are always conversations at this time of year, and I’m not going to go into the details of who spoke to who, but clubs ring us, we ring clubs, [but] that doesn’t mean that someone’s going to be traded.
You understand the fans, though, when you’ve been so positive about him, his development, he’s inspiring, and then for whatever reason, he’s not absolutely untradeable. You understand the fans would say they don’t quite understand that?
No, well, our position has never been that he’s tradeable, so I’ll dispute that. He’s not being traded.
Was the intent to try and find out what he was worth?
I’m just going to go back to what I’ve said. I understand the question, but as I said, there are lots of conversations had. Clubs come to us and talk about players, we talk about other players. I’m not going to go into the details of who gets spoken about.
What does it say about the footy club when your two highest-paid players [Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca] are considering their future elsewhere?
Yeah, it’s a good question. I’ll separate them, if I can, because things are different. Christian, obviously, went through a pretty horrific experience, which was really traumatic for Christian and his family, particularly him and Bella. Post that, we’ve had some really good conversations with ‘Trac’ about the club and how we can get better, how he can get better, as we have with all our leaders. Christian is fully committed and will be playing for us for a long time.
The different one with Clayton; they’re separate issues, so I don’t want to lump them in together. But as I said, unfortunately, this time of year, the interest sort of explains how big it is, doesn’t it? So, ‘Claz’ is happy, he’s going to stay and he won’t be going anywhere.
But how does it get to the point where he meets with other clubs?
That’s a good question. Obviously, Clayton felt that, at some point, he wanted to have a conversation with Geelong. I think [Cats list boss] Andrew [Mackie]’s already expressed that. I spoke to Geelong on the day, and said that Clayton wouldn’t be going anywhere, and they were really happy with that. So, I think just because someone talks to another club … you’d be surprised how often that happens during the course of a year. Every club does it, so just because someone speaks to another club, doesn’t mean that they’re actually going. I think history shows that.
To be clear on Clayton, are you saying he was never shopped around by the Dees?
Yeah, the term shopped around is inaccurate.
What were some of his concerns with the club?
No, no. Clayton’s fine. He understands our position that he won’t be traded, and he’s fully committed to us for next year.
With Dan Houston [changing his mind], is there a concern these instances are causing other players to have concerns about coming to your club?
Yeah, obviously, when stuff’s in the media, if you’re a player, if you’ve got choice, and there’s noise around a club, which there was [around us] at that time, then obviously, that could have an impact. But in terms of Dan specifically, I can’t answer that. But yeah, that’s a fair point you’re asking.
Is that something you need to address internally and clear up for the future, to make sure the players do want to come to your club?
100 per cent. We don’t want to be a club that players don’t want to come to. We want to be a really attractive place for players to come to.
Are you attractive at the moment?
(Long pause) That’s a good question. Hard to answer. Yeah, it’s hard to answer.
Is it concerning that you have to pause and think about it?
I’m just trying to give a measured answer.
