{"id":372658,"date":"2024-03-03T23:55:37","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T00:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=372658"},"modified":"2024-03-04T02:05:48","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T02:05:48","slug":"troubled-stars-shock-inclusion-for-opening-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=372658","title":{"rendered":"Troubled star's shock inclusion for opening round"},"content":{"rendered":"

E\ufeffmbattled Demons<\/a> star Clayton Oliver<\/a> has been named in Melbourne's squad for its 'opening round' clash despite a turbulent off-season.<\/p>\n

Fronting media on Monday, \ufeffDemons coach Simon Goodwin<\/a> confirmed that Oliver would face the Swans at the SCG on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Goodwin stated that Oliver had built a strong foundation in the last month since returning from personal leave, despite him sitting out a trial game with the AFL side last week to instead line up for the VFL team.<\/p>\n

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\"Clayton<\/p>\n

"It's been a pretty long process to first and foremost get Clayton healthy. That has been a process, but it's one that we've taken as a footy club," Goodwin said.<\/p>\n

"We've addressed some things and we've gone about a process to get him to this point. It's not finished but he's healthy, he's happy and he's ready.<\/p>\n

"We're united and connected as a footy team and that's been a big part of our summer. He's a big part of that.<\/p>\n

"He's done everything we could've asked of him … to get himself into this position and he's right to go."<\/p>\n

Oliver took extended personal leave from the club in January after departing a pre-season training camp in Lorne early<\/a> ahead of the Christmas break.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old was a notable absentee as the Demons hit the track in 2024<\/a> but eased back into training in late January.<\/p>\n

\"Clayton<\/p>\n

Oliver was limited to just 15 senior games last season because of a prolonged hamstring injury but returned before the finals series where the Demons exited in straight sets for a second consecutive year.<\/p>\n

This preceded intense\ufeff trade speculation<\/a> with several clubs hunting the three-time All-Australian's signature.<\/p>\n

The Demons were reportedly\ufeff weighing up letting Oliver go despite him being contracted to the club until 2030 after signing a seven-year extension last June.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Melbourne did not put Oliver on the trade table and denied ever considering it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Oliver<\/p>\n

In October, \ufeffOliver was briefly admitted to hospital following a seizure<\/a> which he partially attributed to side effects from ADHD medication.<\/p>\n

A month later, he was \ufeffpulled over by police and charged with driving with a suspended licence after being disqualified from driving on medical grounds.<\/p>\n

Draftee \ufeffCaleb Windsor and young wingman Blake Howes will make their AFL debuts against the Swans.<\/p>\n

Former St Kilda forward Jack Billings will also play his first game for the Demons after he was traded at the end of last season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

E\ufeffmbattled Demons star Clayton Oliver has been named in Melbourne's squad for its 'opening round' clash despite a turbulent off-season. Fronting media on Monday, \ufeffDemons […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":372660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372658"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=372658"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":372662,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372658\/revisions\/372662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/372660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=372658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=372658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=372658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}