AFL News: Clayton Oliver reveals he left a pre-draft combine meeting in tears

On the eve of his 150th game, Demons star Clayton Oliver has revealed how one recruiter left him in tears following a disasterous pre-draft interview.

MELBOURNE. 02/09/2022. AFL. 2nd Qualifying Final. Melbourne vs. Sydney Swans at the MCG. Clayton Oliver of the Demons. Picture by Michael Klein

Star Melbourne midfielder Clayton Oliver has revealed how he left a pre-draft combine meeting in tears and fearing his AFL career might be over before it started after being called “fat” in a raw interview with Sydney.

Oliver had lost five kilos late in his draft year of 2015 as he worked to prove his fitness to wary AFL recruiters.

But as he detailed this week on former AFL player Tommy Sheridan’s Ausmerican Aces podcast, that wasn’t enough for Swans’ long-time recruiting guru Kinnear Beatson.

Oliver also detailed how he faked a hamstring injury in an effort to bypass the brutal beep test at the combine, worried it might hinder his draft hopes.

Melbourne star Clayton Oliver in 2015. (Photo by Robert Prezioso/AFL Media/Getty Images)

Melbourne star Clayton Oliver in 2015. (Photo by Scott Barbour/AFL Media/Getty Images)

“I went to the combine and said I had a sore hammy … (I) didn’t … (I) just didn’t want to do the beep test,” Oliver said as he prepared for his 150th AFL match this week.

“It was not looking good.

“I have never been more nervous about anything in my life, I didn’t want to go (to the combine). I think I cried after one of the meetings (where) Sydney sprayed me.”

Almost eight years on, Oliver can see the humorous side of the exchange which took place with the highly-regarded Beatson, though he didn’t at the time.

He would eventually be chosen at pick four for the Demons, one pick after the Swans took Callum Mills as an Academy player.

The Demons took Oliver with the fourth selection in the year’s draft. Picture Simon Cross

“(I) walked in there and sat down and he (Beatson) has looked me dead in the eye and (said) ‘Why are you so fat for’?

“I was like ‘I have lost five kilos’ and he was like ‘(you would) probably want to lose a bit more, mate’. Then he kept teeing off ‘can’t kick, can’t run, couldn’t handball on my left hand only on my right hand’. I was like ‘Why am I even here, you are obviously not going to draft me?’

“He said: ‘I just wanted to quiz you, to see how tough you are’. I was like ‘I am not mate’ and started crying. I ended up getting up and walking off … thinking I was never playing AFL.

“I thought I was pretty mentally tough and he just broke me in about three minutes.”

Oliver, who has won four club best and fairests and been selected in three All-Australian teams, will become the first player from his draft crop to reach 150 games when he takes on Sydney on Sunday.

Originally published as AFL News: Clayton Oliver reveals he left a pre-draft combine meeting in tears