The four-time best and fairest winner\u2019s head was still spinning as his future suddenly shifted direction and Giants\u2019 coach Adam Kingsley, football manager Jason McCartney and players Stringer, Tom Green, Finn Callaghan and Lachie Ash joined him for a chat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I had come up here years ago,\u201d Stringer told Oliver.<\/p>\n
Not long afterwards, Oliver became a Giant in exchange for a future third round pick and with the Demons paying roughly half his wage on a contract that finishes in 2030.<\/p>\n
![\"Oliver](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/a80bf15b26141efa5b81f65bba405f9b02ea7111.jpeg\")
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Oliver at Giants headquarters ahead of Opening Round. Credit: Sam Mooy<\/p>\n
Now, about six months after that conversation, and on the eve of his first match with the Giants, Oliver sits in the humidity at Giants HQ wearing an orange singlet and says with a wry smile he is beginning to feel the same way as Stringer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I had done it a couple of years ago as well. It would have been nice. I should have come up in 2023. It would have saved me a couple of years,\u201d Oliver said.<\/p>\n
It was 2023 when his career began to drift off course at Melbourne following a hamstring injury midway through that season and a bone chipping away in his knee when he returned.<\/p>\n
A range of personal and health issues emerged. He was put on indefinite leave as controversy swirled around his off-field behaviour. He then battled a broken hand in 2024 before an attempt to become a Geelong player that October failed.<\/a> Last year he settled into a better rhythm only for Melbourne\u2019s new regime to show him the exit.<\/p>\n Clayton Oliver\u2019s first hit-out for the Giants.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n Oliver knows he made mistakes at Melbourne but doesn\u2019t dwell on them, preferring to adopt a never complain, never explain philosophy as he attempts to resurrect his career at his new club.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a good eight years at Melbourne, probably the last two years weren\u2019t great. I am happy playing footy again, happy to be in a good spot and looking forward to a good year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey wanted to go a different way, which is fine, all the best.\u201d<\/p>\n Another aspect of life that is giving Oliver renewed optimism heading into the season is that he is finding ways to manage Crohn\u2019s disease, after being diagnosed with the condition midway through 2023, about the same time he suffered a serious hamstring injury.<\/p>\n At the Giants he has worked closely with dietitian Mel Juergens and feels as though, working together, they are getting on top of what he needs to be well.<\/p>\n \u201cI have got Crohn\u2019s [disease],\u201d Oliver said.<\/p>\n Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver.Credit: AFL Photos<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a bit annoying. I can\u2019t eat too much. I get an injection once a week and that settles it down pretty good. I can\u2019t have gluten, lactose and fructose and a fair list of things.\u201d<\/p>\n Crohn\u2019s disease is a chronic condition that causes inflammation in the digestive tract affecting an estimated 100,000 Australians. Oliver explains it affects people differently, which is why it can take time to create an effective management plan.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to go through a trial and error sort of system [and] find out that certain things make me feel sick and lethargic. I think I have finally got on top of that in the last couple of months. Our dietitian Mel has been unbelievable with all that and helping me,\u201d Oliver said.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s probably the best I have felt training in ages and purely from Mel.\u201d<\/p>\n Oliver is matter of fact about the reality of carrying that condition while playing elite sport.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone\u2019s battling, everyone\u2019s got something. I am not the only person who has something wrong with me,\u201d Oliver said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s heaps of boys with heaps of things going on so it\u2019s not poor me or anything. I take it in my stride.\u201d<\/p>\n That stride has become one of the more familiar ones in football, particularly when it was streaming out of Melbourne\u2019s midfield during his 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n In those two seasons he won a flag, polled Norm Smith Medal votes, earned back-to-back best-and-fairest awards and All-Australian selection, finished third in the Brownlow and won the Coaches Association award two years running.<\/p>\n No wonder Giants captain Toby Greene said on Wednesday Oliver\u2019s stoppage craft was as good as anyone in the game in the past 10 years.<\/p>\n \u201cHe will build into the year as it goes,\u201d Greene said. \u201cHe\u2019s a good player.\u201d <\/p>\n The skipper has seen the Giants revitalise the career of player after player who left their previous club under a cloud. He knows the recipe to get Oliver cooking again.<\/p>\n Clayton Oliver was a strong performer in round one.Credit: AFL Photos<\/p>\n![\"Clayton](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/cf75bfad4f0ea33cfd57b32a3600c0626c5f59e8.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Christian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/8d15723ceeada1b60d765e51e396d952ad0df225.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Clayton](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/a27477d661b7a05db57a2ffe1426aef3dc56b30b.jpeg\")
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