{"id":530451,"date":"2026-03-10T06:24:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T06:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/530451\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T06:24:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T06:24:23","slug":"melbourne-captain-max-gawn-responds-to-clayton-oliver-jab-gws-giants-recruit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/530451\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne captain Max Gawn responds to Clayton Oliver jab, GWS Giants recruit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne<\/a> captain Max Gawn<\/a> has responded to Clayton Oliver’s<\/a> cheeky jab at the club, following his first win in GWS<\/a> colours on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Demons pushed for the star midfielder to find a new home in the trade period, as they entered a new era under coach Steven King, with Oliver ultimately ending up a Giant.<\/p>\n

In the absence of a number of key players, he was instrumental in the side’s Opening Round win over Hawthorn<\/a>, picking up 26 disposals and kicking a goal. <\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Filthy rat’: Gorringe unloads after Docherty saga<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Slater’s theory for two ugly round one thrashings<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: North Korea refuse to play after VAR call in heated moment<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Phoenix<\/p>\n

Phoenix Gothard (left) and Clayton Oliver of the Giants celebrate.\u00a0AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

After the game, Oliver was asked about the move and said the training standards at the Giants were clearly higher than Melbourne’s.<\/p>\n

“I came back pretty unfit to be honest. A little bit fat. Honestly these boys, the first session I came back I was running with Toby Bedford, Lachie Ash and mate, the standard they set is actually on another level,” Oliver told Fox Footy.<\/p>\n

“We came back in November, there was 45 boys back, two weeks early, they’re just that hungry.<\/p>\n

“I think that’s why I came here. I know what the talent we’ve got on the list, but I think it’s the hard work. Adam Kingsley has put that in from the top, it’s unreal.”<\/p>\n

Responding on Tuesday, Gawn was initially hesitant to fire back at his premiership teammate.<\/p>\n

“It came across my desk that maybe he might have said a few things,” Gawn told Triple M’s Mick in the Morning.<\/p>\n

“I think Clayton, when he gets put on a microphone, can always say some good stuff.<\/p>\n

“But once again, I don’t really care what Clayton says. We’ve been texting throughout the whole week.<\/p>\n

“I’m bullish about what we can do this year, so I’m not really focused on what he says about us.”<\/p>\n

\"Max<\/p>\n

Nick Riewoldt and Max Gawn on radio.\u00a0Triple M<\/p>\n

St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt pushed a little further, saying the comments “must sting (Gawn) a little bit” and “piss (him) off a little bit”.<\/p>\n

Gawn pointed out that the Dees must have had somewhat decent standards when they won the premiership and finished top four across Oliver’s best seasons at the club.<\/p>\n

“The standard must have been pretty good when (Oliver) was a three-time All-Australian, four-time best and fairest winner and a premiership player,” Gawn said.<\/p>\n

“So we had a relatively good standard for a while there.<\/p>\n

“That answer was a bit of cheek, but to be honest, Clayton can say whatever he wants – and does – and it doesn’t affect where I’m going this year.<\/p>\n

“I would love him to win the Brownlow, I’ll be the first one there supporting him.”<\/p>\n

Oliver wasn’t the only ex-Demon who had a good weekend, with Christian Petracca dominating on debut for Gold Coast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Christian<\/p>\n

Christian Petracca of the Suns celebrates a goal with Mac Andrew.\u00a0AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The 2021 Norm Smith Medallist had a game-high 34 disposals to go with three goals, 10 inside 50s and six clearances. <\/p>\n

“I’m happy for them. I don’t really care, to be honest. I’m all in on Melbourne and those two boys don’t play for Melbourne,” Gawn said.<\/p>\n

“It’s good to see Petracca smiling and playing a great brand of footy. At half time I was happy for him, but by the end I was like ‘geez he’s getting really good numbers here’.<\/p>\n

“Clayton, when he kicked the goal, was special as well, but it doesn’t really do anything for me this year.”<\/p>\n

Melbourne opens their 2026 season against St Kilda at the MCG in round one.<\/p>\n

Gawn’s first meeting with Petracca will come in round four at the MCG, before facing Oliver and GWS in Alice Springs in round 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne captain Max Gawn has responded to Clayton Oliver’s cheeky jab at the club, following his first win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-530451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}