Melbourne accused of ‘favourable treatment' to Clayton Olvier and Christian Petracca at expense of group
That's the view of Channel 7 commentators Kane Cornes and Nick Riewoldt, who were both in agreeance on The Agenda Setters.
Petracca and Oliver were both subjected to intense trade speculation at the end of last season before ultimately staying with the club.
The Demons rebuilt the fractured relationships by focusing on spreading the love throughout the pre-season, a message that coach Simon Goodwin has continued to preach throughout the year.
'I've never seen a club and a coach pander to two players like Melbourne have done from the start of the year,' Cornes said on The Agenda Setters.
'I understand all the questions are directed to Simon Goodwin about Petracca and Oliver.
'You know the way you answer that? 'There's 44 players on our list, not two, and I've spoken a lot about how much we rate and respect Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver, but this is a team game'.
'I've never ever seen Chris Scott do that and speak about Bailey Smith repeatedly since day one of pre-season to the point where he is pumping him up for a tagging role.
'It's just amazing how much they have tried to pump these two guys up from day one. It's love and it's all this. What about the other players in the side? What about the players that give absolutely everything?'
Oliver missed the Round 8 win over West Coast due to personal issues, but returned to the field against Hawthorn in a surprise tagging role.
The gun midfielder, who signed a massive contract until 2030, has failed to reach the heights that took him to four best and fairest awards, three All-Australians and two AFLCA Player of the Year Awards.
'Their investment for the output, it's just not a good return on your investment of $1.3m. If he's not getting All-Australian every two out of three years, if he's not getting 30 and 10 clearances,' Cornes continued.
Host Craig Hutchison interjected, saying, 'the role of the day required him to do that (tagging).'
But Cornes wasn't having it.
'I understand but that's once again pandering to him,' he said.
'If he's not in the side to be a 10-clearance per game, 30-possession player, he goes back to the VFL and finds the footy 40 times to get himself back in the ball.
'That's what you would do if he's Tom Sparrow. If that's Tom Sparrow out of form, he goes back to the VFL, gets himself 30 and comes back to the team in great form. They are just finding a way to cover once again for Clayton Oliver.'
Fellow panellist Caroline Wilson was 'shocked' by Cornes' take, given Oliver's much-publicised mental health issues.
'I'm shocked by that view. I'm shocked,' she said.
'But in the context of everything Clayton Oliver has been through, and he didn't play a week ago ... it's not a football issue.
'It's a much wider issue than a football issue and Simon Goodwin is trying something different.
'He's not going to do it for the rest of the year, or maybe he will. If he thinks this is a good thing for Clayton Oliver — he knows Clayton Oliver's problems more than you do.'
Riewoldt said that it wasn't about that, it was about the praising of Oliver.
'I think it's more the gushing over the role. OK so you went out and played a role. I think it's the gushing about it,' he said.
'I understand where Clayton's coming from. I understand that. He made the mature decision to take the week off because he was struggling, applaud that absolutely.
'But from a pure football perspective, yes more at play, this is an issue for Melbourne and this is going to be an issue for them ongoing if he's not able to transcend being a tagger.'
The St Kilda champion added that the 'pandering' might be creating a negative environment at the club.
'The way they've pandered to Petracca and Oliver, a player who shopped himself around and wanted to get out, and a player who they were also trying to shop,' he said.
'I think the overcorrection has meant that there's been a ripple through the rest of the group, these guys are put up on a pedestal and these players are given favourable treatment at the expense of the group.
'It's very tough to be in an environment like that and then preach team collectiveness, equal playing field, integrity of selection, all of those things at the same time.'
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