Melbourne’s Clayton Oliver details pre-draft meeting with AFL club, talks almost landing at RichmondJack Jovanovski
zerohanger.com
March 30, 2023The now-25-year-old, who played for Mooroopna's seniors in the Goulburn Valley Football League as a 16-year-old before venturing to the Murray Bushrangers, first shared that he initially thought he was headed to Richmond after partaking in VFL action with the club.
"I [thought I was] going to the rookie draft," began Oliver. "I played Richmond VFL for, like, two, three weeks, did that, and then came back to [the Murray Bushrangers].
"I got told I was going to get rookie-picked [by] Richmond, I was like 'yes, so good, best day ever', I was stoked [about] it."
However, a few wrong turns at the combine meant that plan didn't eventuate.
"I went to the (pre-draft) combine, said I had a sore hammy, I didn't, I just didn't want to do the beep test," laughed Oliver.
"I knew I was going to run a shocking beep (test score), so I was like 'I don't think I can do a beep test and a two (kilometre trial) or a three (kilometre trial)', so I'm [thinking] I'm just going to say I have a sore hammy.
"I remember, I said to [people at the combine] 'look, I'm going to be honest, I ran [the three-kilometre] the other day, I ran a 14:40 (time), so I don't think I'm going to beat 11.
"I got my (skinfolds test) done, [they] said 'mate, I just don't know how you're going to go at this combine', and I'm like, 'yeah, it's not looking good'."
https://www.zerohanger.com/why-are-you-so-fat-for-melbournes-clayton-oliver-details-pre-draft-meeting-with-afl-club-talks-almost-landing-at-richmond-134845/
