Melbourne coach confident Clayton Oliver may only miss one more game

Melbourne hasn’t been the same without Clayton Oliver but some positive news has given cause for hope of a quick return.

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin says the Demons’ stoppage game has lifted in Clayton Oliver’s absence. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin says the club’s first extended period without star Clayton Oliver will make the Demons midfield significantly stronger as he put a round 17 return on the agenda.

Oliver will miss a fifth consecutive game when Melbourne faces GWS in Alice Springs, with the Demons producing an indifferent 2-2 record in his absence.

Despite the break-even results, which included a win over Collingwood but a loss to Geelong last week, Goodwin said his team’s stoppage game had lifted in Oliver’s absence.

He praised the growing influence of Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy in the ruck and was hopeful Oliver would rejoin the star-studded engine room against St Kilda.

“There’s no doubt it’s tracking in the right direction from a hamstring perspective, but the scan did show that it was pretty much what Clayton was feeling – that he couldn’t get to maximum speed because it still wasn’t fully healed yet,” Goodwin said.

“We’re working with Clayton around that … he clearly won’t play this week, but he will train today, he’s tracking in the right direction.

“We’ll try and tick off his max speed next week, which he needs to hit to be available to play, and we’re hopeful without any other setback and him continuing to feel better, that he’ll play the following week.”

Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy are a formidable one-two punch but need to hit the scoreboard. Picture: Michael Klein

Goodwin said Angus Brayshaw and Tom Sparrow had performed strongly on the inside to help fire the Demons to their wins over Carlton and Collingwood.

“Our clearance game and our ability to win the ball through the middle of the ground hasn’t been an issue over the last few weeks,” he said.

“I think it’s only going to serve us well when Clayton comes back – our ability and depth through the middle of the ground is going to get better.

“When you lose a player like Clayton there’s always opportunity, and through that opportunity I think we’ve found a few things … when he comes back it’s going to put us in a pretty good position.”

The Demons have not scored more than 76 points in a game since round 9, with Goodwin saying he wanted his two rucks to improve their scoring output as he contemplates bringing Ben Brown back into the side.

Brown, who has not played since round 3, played his best game of the season in Casey’s VFL win over Geelong, booting two goals from a season-high 18 disposals and nine marks.

“We couldn’t be happier in terms of the combination, what they’re delivering from a ruck perspective,” Goodwin said.

“Our stoppage game’s got going and we’re starting to be a really dominant team around the ball.

“Clearly, we’d like to get more out of them forward of centre … that ultimately over the next few weeks is what we want to see, we want to see our big guys hitting the scoreboard as well.”

Originally published as Melbourne coach confident Clayton Oliver may only miss one more game