Melbourne star Clayton Oliver will miss the Demons’ trip to Perth to face West Coast this weekend, with the club to ‘prioritise his wellbeing’.

The Demons released a statement confirming the midfielder’s withdrawal from the team, saying it was ‘the best thing for Clayton’s health’.

“Clayton has had a difficult week personally and as such, both he and the club have agreed that it would be best for him not to play against the Eagles on Saturday,” Demons football general manager Alan Richardson said in a statement.

“We expect Clayton to return to the program next week, but as always his mental and physical health will be the priority.

“As an industry, it’s pleasing to see the progress we’ve made in normalising players putting their hand up when they need support.

“The club’s focus is on surrounding Clayton with the care he needs and we ask that his privacy is respected.”

The news continues Oliver’s turbulent battles with mental health over the last two seasons, having endured a turbulent 2023 summer off-field that led to a challenging 2024.

Averaging over 27 disposals per game in the first seven rounds of the season, the 27-year old has returned to something near his best, though it hasn’t been enough to prevent the Dees slumping to a 2-5 start to the season, albeit having won their last two games.

‘Not brave enough’: Cornes blasts Clarkson amid North boycott

Kane Cornes has fired back after the controversial media pundit was black-banned by North Melbourne, accusing coach Alastair Clarkson of ‘run[ning] away from criticism’.

The Kangaroos revealed on Wednesday they had rejected a request from broadcaster Channel Seven to have Clarkson interviewed by Cornes and former great Luke Hodge before the club’s clash with Essendon on Thursday night, in the wake of what they considered ‘vindictive, bullying’ comments from Cornes regarding captain Jy Simpkin and young star Harry Sheezel.

Cornes derided Simpkin over a verbal stoush with Port Adelaide gun – and Cornes favourite – Jason Horne-Francis during the Kangaroos’ loss to the Power.

“He’s won 16 games in six years, and I’d be just shutting my mouth and trying to turn this footy club around,” he said, while staunchly defending Horne-Francis’ role in the stoush.

He was equally critical of Sheezel winning easy disposals in the back half, describing it as ‘Sheezy-ball’.

“Over nearly two and a half years, there’s been some real personal attacks on the club, vindictive attacks that we feel have been unwarranted,” Kangaroos football general manager Todd Viney said of Cornes.

“We believe some of the commentary from Kane, particularly earlier this week with a couple of our players in Jy Simpkin and Harry Sheezel, overstepped the line … inappropriate, targeted, vindictive, bullying behaviour that we as a club won’t stand for.”

Viney added he was ‘not holding [his] breath on an apology’, which proved accurate when Cornes doubled down on his criticism in a response on 7 News Melbourne, saying Viney’s use of ‘provocative language’ in describing him as a ‘bully’ wasn’t on.

“I think the dangerous part about it is the provocative language that they’ve used – so, ‘bully’,” Cornes said.

“I think that very much blurs the lines. This wasn’t bullying.”

Cornes added that Clarkson during his successful stint as coach of Hawthorn from 2005-2021, which netted four premierships, wouldn’t have shied away from an interview.

“The Alastair Clarkson they thought they were getting was the Hawthorn version of Alastair Clarkson, where he was strong enough and brave enough to front up and answer that type of criticism face to face and man to man,” he said.

“For him to run away from criticism like this, and essentially not be brave enough to answer it face to face with me in the changeroom, is the most disappointing thing.”

Cornes has provided expert commentary on Seven’s Thursday night coverage this season, having made a high-profile swap from rival network Nine, which is not an official AFL broadcaster, at the end of 2024.

The Kangaroos’ clash with the Bombers is their final game for 2025 in the timeslot that has been officially scheduled, with the league yet to pencil in the second half of the season.

“Everyone hated me”: Allen opens up on criticism over Mitchell meeting

West Coast captain Oscar Allen has opened up about his mental health battle in the wake of his highly-publicised meeting with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell, saying it felt like everyone hated him.

Allen is a restricted free agent, but fans vented their anger when it was revealed he had caught up with Mitchell last month.

It was initially reported the pair met up in public, but Allen said it was a private dinner at his house.

The fallout from that meeting – combined with Allen’s on-field struggles – led to a downfall in his mental health.

The 26-year-old was granted a few days away from the club a fortnight ago, and he returned to playing duties in last week’s 50-point loss to Hawthorn.

“It was a pretty difficult month,” Allen told Perth radio station Mix 94.5. 

“I decided, with the club, to step away a couple of weeks ago. I just wasn’t handling it all mentally whatsoever.

“I’m going a lot better now. It definitely was really tough, particularly when I love West Coast. 

“I love the club, I love playing footy, and I wasn’t able to do any of that well.

Oscar Allen celebrates a goal. (Photo by Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“And then because of that, I suppose your identity as a footballer and a person kind of get merged, because playing footy is something I’ve loved to do since I was a kid, and my job was going poorly.

“Publicly, everyone hated me, and my performance was poor. It was tough, but I’ve had a really good support network around me.”

Allen used Thursday’s radio interview to clarify how his meeting with Mitchell came about.

“I’ve known Mitch since I was 18. When I got drafted, he was a coach at West Coast,” Allen said.

“We’ve had a relationship for a long period of time.

“The thing that frustrated me was people are annoyed that, ‘oh, you did it in public’.

“I had dinner with Sam privately at my house. No one else was there.

“It was just two guys having a chat. We were having a conversation about where I’m at, how I’ve been going this year.

“He was a premiership captain for Hawthorn, so I was trying to talk a little bit about when Hawthorn won in 2008 and then had a couple of tough years, how they responded from that.

“Then it got played out I met him in public.

“I clearly understand the frustration of fans and I suppose the annoyance a lot of people had, but I didn’t think it would be as big of a story.”

Allen said he has taken a step away from social media in order to protect himself mentally, adding that if anyone sees any posts from him, it’s from his fiance Lorna McNabb.

The key forward is set to play in defence again when he lines up for his 100-game in Saturday night’s clash with Melbourne at Optus Stadium. 

Eagles coach Andrew McQualter dismissed any suggestions Allen should be dropped to regain his form.

“I don’t agree with it at all,” McQualter said. 

“Oscar’s a really good player. He’s a high level AFL player. 

“We know he’s not in the best form of his career right now, but Oscar is working as hard as anyone to get himself going in the football field, and we’re going to continue to support you.”

(with AAP)