Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca and the summer of change at Melbourne

Four months ago, a year that many thought couldn’t get any worse for Melbourne did exactly that. Today, ‘it’s a very happy place’. JON RALPH looks at what – and who – has changed.

Clayton Oliver’s day off on Thursday started early, but a round of golf or lazy lunch wasn’t on the Melbourne star’s menu.

An hour of stretching at 8am was followed by massage, then gym, then a sauna for a player who has turned his obsessions back to being an AFL mega star.

Christian Petracca, the man who helped Oliver turn the 2021 Grand Final, finally integrated back into full training this week after a rib injury to the same spot as the disastrous King’s Birthday catastrophe of 2024.

Petracca will miss Saturday’s clash against North Melbourne, but be ready for the final tune-up against Fremantle on March 2 as he seeks to reclaim his mantle as footy’s most dynamic mid forward. The swagger is back in his step, the smile is affixed to his face.

And yet … just four months ago, Melbourne’s most talented three players were all asking to be traded or confessing their homesickness to coach Simon Goodwin.

Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver all smiles at Melbourne training this summer. Picture: Michael Klein

Petracca wanted to move to Carlton or Collingwood, Oliver was set on following Bailey Smith to Geelong and Kysaiah Pickett was open to a move to either Port Adelaide or Perth.

The gains made in these past four months are significant.

As one well-connected figure said on the eve of the pre-season practice matches: “It’s a very happy place down there at the moment”.

So what has changed in those four months, and is this a fragile ceasefire or actually the start of a new Demons’ era with the three stars at the forefront?

Is Simon Goodwin coaching for his AFL career with the repercussions of a finals absence meaning these three are marching out the door?

Get back to us on that one in six months.

Yet, talk to an array of people inside and out of Melbourne, it is clear much has changed.

As club great and Fox Footy’s new AFL360 co-host Garry Lyon told the Herald Sun this week, the signs are positive.

“From what I am hearing they have taken ownership. You can go one or two ways. You can drop your lip and say, ‘Woe is me’, or you can stay that, in time, I will be recognised as one of the greatest of all time at one of footy’s oldest clubs,” Lyon said.

“I am hoping they will bite the bullet and say, ‘F--- it’, I will help lift us up out of this little hole we are in’. And my mail is that’s what they have done.”

Gawn and Viney are the key to this resurgence as leaders.

Gawn is a masterful media performer and, like Geelong coach Chris Scott, defends his players to the hilt in public while challenging them in private.

Both Viney and Gawn have nurtured Oliver and Petracca, but also delivered the home truths when needed.

Understandably, given October’s dramas, Melbourne’s coaches and officials are hypersensitive to any sign of fracturing or turmoil.

So far so good – Oliver and Petracca have shown every sign they are invested in their teammates across summer and have put the distractions aside.

Oliver is flying on the track.

Melbourne’s strong message is that despite his exceptional scratch match form, he will take time to hit his straps after a torrid 2024 season undone by rib, finger and knee issues.

The three-time All Australian and four-time best-and-fairest winner won’t be giving himself any excuses – he has run personal-best times, has his sharp hands back, wants to dominate again.

As one confidante said: “He wants it badly, he wants to get back to his best. He’s really proud”.

The off-field problems that threatened to derail his career over the summer of 2023-24 will take consistent management. But those who know believe he’s in as good a shape from a mental health perspective as he had been in some years.

He has finally found the right support team he trusts to give him expert advice and care to channel his energies in the right direction.

The trade period calamity was still so unfortunate.

In a period with few winners, the best understanding is that after his sub-par year all parties agreed to at least take the smallest peek at what a trade might look like.

If the Demons got a monster haul back (Adelaide had its first-rounders from 2024 and 2025 up for grabs for a start), why not at least explore what it might look like?

Oliver and the Demons were both on board but aware of the risks, and yet it turned into a raging dumpster fire within hours.

The Demons publicly denied any trade interest – the story leaked in an instant – Geelong got involved and then tried to get Oliver cheaply. They wooed him at Rhys Stanley’s farm and Oliver was keen. Yet, Geelong did what the best clubs do – tried to screw their rival to the wall. They didn’t have the picks or the cash – Oliver is due $1.3 million a year for the next six seasons – but he still wanted to come after Geelong’s full-court-press.

Melbourne got to Oliver quickly to reassure him.

The message was this – we aren’t trading you, you are one of us, we will work our butts off to help get you back to the player you were, as recently as 2023.

Petracca and Oliver tackled by Christian Petracca during todays training session. Picture: Michael Klein

Petracca had considered moves to a pair of power clubs in the Pies and Blues. And, yet, even if he was casting his eyes forward, both clubs have traded out their first-round pick this year.

No trade is impossible in the AFL world, but getting to either of those clubs seems near-on impossible.

The clear hope is that by the end of a deep finals run in 2025, the trade scenario will be irrelevant and yet Lyon says if not the club still has options.

“You would much rather it didn’t happen, but at the end of the day this is what happens,” he said.

“When you sign a long-term contract you throw yourself at the vagaries of the club.

Whether it be coach sacked, ups and downs, whatever. When you sign that contract your manager should be saying, ‘Listen, within that time frame it’s not going to be smooth sailing every single day. You commit to the security and the money and bad luck, you are there for that time’.

“We want the best of both worlds – we want the seven years and the club that is stable and that’s what they have to get back to.”

Originally published as Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca and the summer of change at Melbourne