Melbourne has spoken publicly about Clayton Oliver's health problems for the first time with coach Simon Goodwin admitting the issues have been 'ongoing for multiple years'.
Speculation has been swirling about the star midfielder's off-field circumstances for a number of years, with the situation coming to a head during the recent trade period.
There were reports the Demons were keen to trade Oliver away from the club, before the 26-year-old ended up in hospital after a 'medical episode'.
MORE: Clayton Oliver hospital: Melbourne confirm star midfielder discharged after tests
Speaking via a pre-recorded interview on SEN Breakfast, Goodwin revealed Oliver had been having 'personal challenges' for some time. but committed the club to helping the midfield star through them.
"Clayton Oliver has got some personal challenges and that’s the best way we can describe it. It’s a very complex situation that we’ve got going on with Clayton and clearly those challenges have been ongoing for multiple years," Goodwin said.
"This isn’t something that has just reared its head in recent times. This is something that has been ongoing for our footy club and ongoing for our team for a number of years.
"We’re working incredibly closely with Clayton right now and building the best people around him and care around him to deal with his complex personal issues."
While Melbourne were supportive of Oliver, Goodwin warned that there would be 'consequences' if the player didn't meet 'minimum standards of behaviour'.
“What Clayton needs to be really clear on is that we now have some minimum standards of behaviour that we want him to adhere to," Goodwin said.
"And if he can’t come along with our culture, there will be some consequences that come with that and we need to be in a position where we can drive our high-performance culture and Clayton is a big part of that.
"Teams that have great clarity on culture and team behaviours ultimately have success and there’s no individual that’s above that and we’re going to build that around Clayton."
Goodwin also denied that Melbourne ever wanted to trade Oliver, with speculation he was available during the recent trade period.
However, the Demons coach made it clear they would have considered moving Oliver on if he didn't commit to the club and its standards.
"It came up at a period of time when we were working with Clayton to really buy into the behaviours that we’re looking for from him and it all culminated at once," Goodwin said.
"That’s why the club didn’t speak for two or three days. There were these rumours going around about trade but we were looking to get a real, clear commitment from Clayton that he was prepared to do the work, to buy into the standards and behaviours and minimum things we were looking for and to really want to be a part of the Melbourne footy club.
"In the end he did, he wanted to be a part of where we’re going and we’re going to work with him to do that.
"So that’s why it played out that way. But we weren’t in a position where we wanted to trade Clayton Oliver."
