Moneyball: Latest AFL contract, signings news for the 2021 season

He was thrown up as a likely target for rival clubs last year but brilliant ball-winner Clayton Oliver has made a big commitment to Melbourne after a red-hot start to the season.

Demon Clayton Oliver is locked in until the end of 2023. Picture: Tim Carrafa

Melbourne has secured superstar midfielder Clayton Oliver to a new two-year contract extension, thwarting any bids from cashed-up rivals.

The new deal will tie Oliver to the club until the end of 2023 when the brilliant playmaker will qualify for restricted free agency after eight years with the Demons.

Oliver, 23, has started the 2021 season in blistering form despite shouldering a heavy tag that has helped release superstar midfield teammate Christian Petracca.

The dual best-and-fairest winner was identified as a potential target for Carlton among other rivals last year, but the hard-nut has made the big commitment only four rounds into the season.

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Clayton Oliver has signed a new deal. Picture: Tim Carrafa

Oliver said he was thrilled to lock-in the deal on the back of an excellent 4-0 start to the season.

“It was an easy decision in the end because the boys are absolutely flying. I think we’ve taken a real team-first approach this season and it has really paid off for us so far,” Oliver told the Herald Sun.

“What ‘Goody’ (coach Simon Goodwin) is driving is an unbelievable football club overall, everyone is really buying in and that is the staff, the coaches, and the younger and VFL boys as well.

“We are trying to keep everyone together and if we do keep everyone together I think we can do something special. Certainly I was always staying at Melbourne.”

Oliver said the Demons’ midfield brigade were thriving this year helping bump and block to create space for each other in the engine room.

He lauded captain Max Gawn’s silver ruck service.

“Obviously 2019-20 weren’t our best years, they were a bit up and down but we have matured as players and have been teammates for five or six years and we know off the field and it is easy playing for one another now,” he said.

“I don’t think we have ever been selfish, I just think we have taken the selflessness to another level and playing team roles.”

Oliver has started the season strongly. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

And in another signing for the club on Tuesday, Melbourne welcomed new major partner Beyond Bank, which will feature across the top of the back of the club jumper.

Oliver, from Murray Bushrangers, has averaged 32 disposals (elite), 16 contested possessions (elite) and eight clearances (elite) across four games to help lead Melbourne to its best start to the season since 1994.

He ranks No. 1 in the competition for contested possessions, No. 3 for total disposals and No. 5 for clearances, according to Champion Data.

On Sunday against Geelong, Oliver wore a tight tag from Mark O’Connor but was prominent again racking up 34 possessions, 474m gained and a whopping 10 score involvements to earn another four AFL Coaches’ Association votes.

Melbourne will look to chalk up its fifth-straight win against Hawthorn on Sunday before a blockbuster clash against reigning premier Richmond on Anzac Day eve in Round 6.

Oliver’s signature is a huge coup for the club’s list management strategy which is desperate to keep its blue-chip engine room together for the prime parts of their careers.

After two ordinary years, rivals were keeping a close eye on the Demons’ star ballwinners to see if either Oliver, Petracca, Jack Viney, Christian Salem or Angus Brayshaw could be prised out.

Oliver celebrates his side’s win over Geelong in Round 4. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

But Viney turned down an offer from Geelong last year, Petracca last week shut down mooted interest from Collingwood, while Brayshaw remains locked in until the end of 2022.

Captain Gawn signed a four-year extension on the eve of the season and electric goal kicker Kysaiah Pickett (2023) and versatile Luke Jackson (2022) have also agreed to new deals with the club.

Oliver’s manager, Nick Gieschen from Connors’ Sports, the finalised the deal which makes one of the AFL’s clearance kings one of the highest-paid players at the club alongside Petracca and Gawn.

List manager Tim Lamb said the club was delighted to shore-up the future of the one of the “premier midfielders in the competition”.

“It is another great sign for our football program that a player of Clayton’s quality has signed on,” Lamb said.

“We are confident he has significant improvement in him and his believe his best football is still to come.”

Oliver’s early-season form puts him on an early path to secure his second All-Australian guernsey after making the squad playing every game for the Demons last year.

He was previously All-Australian in 2018 when the Demons shot up the ladder under Goodwin to make the preliminary final.