35 Facts About Clayton Oliver

Clayton Oliver was born on 22 July 1997 and is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League.

Clayton Oliver was a late bloomer in his junior career, where he struggled to play in the TAC Cup in 2014 and he missed selection in the 2015 AFL Under 18 Championships.

Clayton Oliver made his debut in the 2016 season, which garnered a Rising Star nomination.

Clayton Oliver played for the Mooroopna Football Club senior side in the Goulburn Valley Football League in 2014 and he was awarded the Rising Star in the league, in the same season, he struggled to play in the Bendigo Pioneers side in the TAC Cup, playing only three matches.

Clayton Oliver moved to Mooroopna from Echuca in 2015 to be closer to his school, Goulburn Valley Grammar School in Shepparton for year 12, he was then encouraged to join the Murray Bushrangers for the 2015 TAC Cup season.

Clayton Oliver was adjudged the best and fairest player in the TAC Cup by winning the Morrish Medal, where he received fourteen votes in the final nine rounds, and finished with fifteen in total, one vote ahead of Eastern Ranges forward, Darcy Crocker and Northern Knights midfielder, Jade Gresham, in addition, he was named on the interchange in the TAC Cup team of the year.

Clayton Oliver won the John Byrne Medal as the Murray Bushrangers best and fairest player, finishing eight votes ahead of Murray Waite.

Clayton Oliver was invited to the national draft combine, where he performed well in the agility test, 20-metre time trial, and three kilometre time trial, which elevated his draft chances to inside the top ten.

Clayton Oliver was predicted by Fox Footy as one of the draftees who would have an immediate impact in the 2016 season, and after playing well in the 2016 NAB Challenge, he made his debut in the two-point win against Greater Western Sydney at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Round 1.

Clayton Oliver was highly praised during his debut match where he recorded twenty-two disposals, with fifteen of them contested, and seven clearances from 58 percent game-time, and it was labelled as one of the best debuts in the previous fifteen years by Fox Sports Australia journalist Tiarne Swersky.

Clayton Oliver received two Brownlow votes, indicating he was judged as the second-best player on the ground by the field umpires.

Clayton Oliver played the next three matches, which saw him praised within the industry along with comparisons to a former St Kilda player, Lenny Hayes, before being rested for the ANZAC Day eve match against Richmond at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Round 5.

Clayton Oliver played in the Victorian Football League for Melbourne's affiliate team, the Casey Scorpions, the next week before returning to the senior side for the 73-point win against Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium in Round 7.

Clayton Oliver played the next five out of six matches, missing the 45-point loss against Port Adelaide at TIO Traeger Park in Round 10 due to a corked quad, before being dropped for the Round 15 match against Adelaide at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Clayton Oliver returned to the AFL side for the 29-point win against Hawthorn at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Round 20 in which he was praised for his toughness and ability to bounce back from a Cyril Rioli bump in the first quarter, whereby Rioli received a fine from the match review panel.

Clayton Oliver played the next two matches before missing the last match of the season against Geelong at Simonds Stadium.

Clayton Oliver then returned to Casey for the VFL finals, including playing in the grand final loss against Footscray at Etihad Stadium.

Clayton Oliver finished the AFL season with thirteen matches, which resulted in an eighth-place finish in the Rising Star, and consequently only finished 20th in Melbourne's best and fairest count.

Clayton Oliver lost five kilograms during pre-season training in which he credited his drink driving charge as a key driver behind wanting to improve his training standards.

Clayton Oliver played in the opening round of the season in the 38-point win against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium in which he recorded 36 disposals, fourteen contested possessions, eleven tackles and nine clearances, and was named "clearly the best player on the ground" by Fox Sports Australia journalist Anna Harrington and AFL Media reporter Ben Guthrie.

Clayton Oliver continued his strong performances throughout the start of the season, and, by a third of the way through, he was being talked about as a potential Brownlow Medal winner.

Clayton Oliver was named in unofficial mid-year All-Australian teams by Mark Robinson and AFL Media and was named the tenth-best midfielder in the league by Wayne Carey.

Furthermore, Melbourne's captain at the time, Nathan Jones, said Clayton Oliver was the best young talent he had seen in his eleven to twelve years of playing AFL football.

Clayton Oliver was publicly criticised by fans for "staging" and "diving".

Schofield successfully appealed the original charge after arguing that while "he intended to strike Clayton Oliver and hit him with his forearm to the chin, the contact was so negligible it was not sufficient for a report".

Two weeks later during the Round 16 match against Carlton, Clayton Oliver confronted a Carlton supporter who was sitting in the front row of the Melbourne Cricket Ground after the supporter had yelled something at him over the fence.

Clayton Oliver was publicly condemned by former players, including Leigh Matthews and Nick Dal Santo, who stated players needed to ignore the crowd during matches and not confront them.

Clayton Oliver was ranked second for contested possessions, third for clearances, fourth for tackles and fifth for total disposals.

Clayton Oliver was voted the best young player by the AFL Coaches Association when he polled 72 votes in the AFL Coaches Association best young player award, 34 votes clear of Sam Menegola, who finished second; this was in addition to finishing seventh in the AFL Coaches Association champion player of the year award.

Clayton Oliver was one of three Melbourne players nominated for the Leigh Matthews Trophy as the AFL Players Association most valuable player and was named in the centre midfield position in the 22under22 team.

Clayton Oliver won the Harold Ball Memorial Trophy as Melbourne's best young player and the James McDonald Trophy for the heart and spirit award.

Clayton Oliver had a total of 734 disposals, 168 tackles and 405 contested possessions; his excellent season saw him selected for his first All Australian Team, where he was selected on the interchange.

Clayton Oliver eventually finished second in the Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal behind fellow All-Australian teammate Max Gawn.

Clayton Oliver managed to only kick 4 goals for the season and was seen to over-handball the football rather than kick the ball to his teammates advantage; he was still extremely consistent numbers-wise, averaging a career-high 30 disposals per game and polling 12 Brownlow Votes despite being in a losing side most weeks.

Clayton Oliver was rewarded with his consistent season by winning his second Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal, tying with his teammate Max Gawn on 464 total votes.