North Melbourne v Melbourne: Why Clayton Oliver has become one of AFL’s most damaging players

Viewed as an accumulator for much of his career, Clayton Oliver has become one of the AFL’s most dangerous midfielders — as these stats prove.

Jake Lever in action against Richmond during the 2021 AFL season. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

The superlatives surrounding Clayton Oliver and Josh Kelly have rarely overlapped.

Kelly has been billed as a polished playmaker who punishes teams with his delightful left foot. He is silk.

Oliver is perceived as a rugged midfielder with a see-ball, get-ball mentality, which is often undone by blindly hacking the ball forward. He is blue-collar.

Perhaps it is time to reassess. In 2021 it is Oliver who has blossomed into the beautiful ball user.

Both Kelly and Oliver feature in Champion Data’s list of the top 10 players who have attempted the hardest kicks this season (minimum 50 kicks).

Three players have extraordinarily good “hit” rates — Toby Greene (Greater Western Sydney), Dustin Martin (Richmond) and Oliver.

And three players have extraordinarily poor ‘hit’ rates — Kelly, Chad Warner (Sydney) and Ollie Wines (Port Adelaide).

In fact, Kelly is the 13th-worst kick in the game, ranked 194th out of 206 players on the list.

Oliver’s sideways chip to spot Kysaiah Pickett standing by himself inside 50m last week was a moment of poise we have rarely associated with the clearance machine.

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Clayton Oliver’s kicking has gone from clanger to crisp.

“He’s finding himself in more space to be able to dispose of the ball,” former teammate and four-time premiership hero Jordan Lewis said on Saturday.

“Too often in his career he has been under pressure when kicking. He is also making simple decisions by foot.”

Last year Oliver’s “money kick” was among the worst in the AFL. Only 35 per cent of Oliver’s entries were retained, and only 15 per cent were marked by teammates.

In 2019 it was 34.9 per cent and 10.5 per cent. This season it is 60 per cent and 24 per cent.

It is not as if Oliver has changed the way he plays. Coach Simon Goodwin has not redeployed his bash-and-crash star on the outside or as a forward.

Oliver has simply smoothed the rough edges in his game. The 23-year-old has not reinvented himself, he has refurbished himself.

In the past five years only three players have averaged more than 25 disposals, 15 contested possessions, five clearances and five tackles.

They are Oliver, injured wonder kid Matthew Rowell (Gold Coast) and Patrick Cripps (Carlton).

This year only Jack Macrae (Western Bulldogs) has averaged more disposals than Oliver and no player wins more of their own ball than Melbourne’s midfield heartbeat.

Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca after Melbourne’s Anzac Day eve win.

Perhaps the most underrated statistic is the freedom Oliver creates for his mates.

Champion Data measures assisted metres gained, which is how far forward a teammate takes the Sherrin having received an uncontested possession from your disposal.

In the first six rounds it was Macrae (438.1m) ranked No. 1, Essendon’s Zach Merrett (386.6) No. 2 and Oliver (364.4) No.3.

Goodwin is loath to individualise, but when Oliver signed a contract extension last month list boss Tim Lamb said the Demons have witnessed him evolve into “one of the premier midfielders in the competition”.

It is impossible to argue with. Only five midfielders have enjoyed a larger spike in kick rating than Oliver.

They are Sam Walsh (Carlton), Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood), Jacob Hopper (GWS), Callum Mills (Sydney) and Adam Treloar (Western Bulldogs), who has unearthed his left foot.

Oliver is still a contested, inside midfielder who does his best work in a phone box. But no longer can he be accused of poor ball use and not hurting teams.

Clearly, ‘Clarry’ is now reliable. He has become a better version of himself.

DEE-LIGHTFUL

Clayton Oliver’s 2021

Disposals 32.5 (Career-high)

Contested possessions 16.5 (Career-high)

Metres gained 386 (Career-high)

Score involvements 8.2 (Career-high)

Source: CHAMPION DATA

THE NEW RANCE? DEE’S EERIE SIMILARITY TO TIGERS HERO

Marc McGowan

Jake Lever’s evolution into an All-Australian-calibre defender isn’t all Melbourne envisioned when it exchanged two first-round picks for him four years ago.

Lever was a hot commodity in his exceptional final season for Adelaide in 2017, including being dubbed the next Alex Rance.

The 25-year-old, who underwent a second knee reconstruction three years ago, has since signed an extension until 2024 and been a key part of why the Demons are unbeaten.

Lever’s career-best numbers even suggest those comparisons to Richmond’s former five-time All-Australian backman are worth discussing again.

Jake Lever has been in career-best form and remains key to Melbourne’s premiership push. Picture: Albert Perez/Getty Images

His coach, Simon Goodwin, is thrilled with Lever’s individual performance, but also the way he’s positively impacting others.

“When we looked at Jake, he was an outstanding 21-year-old defender,” Goodwin said.

“He still had a lot of improvement in his game, but he had quite a significant impact in his time at Adelaide.

“We always thought he’d mature, he could get better and was going to be a great leader.

“That’s one of the big reasons we got him to the club – his leadership. What we’re seeing now is all of that.

“He’s a high-quality player, he’s gone through some adversity off the back of a knee reconstruction, and he’s starting to really drive a back six or seven that are playing some really strong footy.”

With Steven May and Adam Tomlinson around, Lever doesn’t often defend the opposition’s best forward.

Those not ready to anoint Lever the second coming of Rance will point to that as evidence why he’s not, but Goodwin is moulding his star defender into someone who can do that.

He kept Harry Himmelberg and Tim Membrey to a combined one goal in 161 minutes against them, as well as manning the likes of Daniel Rioli and Blake Acres.

“When he first came to the club, he was a bit more of an interceptor. Last year we really refined his game about winning contests and playing on some of the key forwards,” Goodwin said.

“It was fantastic development for his game. What we’ve seen with Jake is he can do both for us – he can play on the talls, but he can also play on the smalls.”

Originally published as North Melbourne v Melbourne: Why Clayton Oliver has become one of AFL’s most damaging players