Melbourne star Clayton Oliver to miss up to another month

Melbourne has revealed Clayton Oliver will miss up to another month with his hamstring injury in an update that sheds light on the star midfielder’s training blow-up on Wednesday. Oliver was expected to train with the Demons’ main group at Casey Fields in a bid to prove his fitness to play this weekend but left the track early after a heated discussion with a Demons staffer. The 25-year-old had only missed one game in more than six seasons before the injury but could now be sidelined until round 21, with Melbourne revealing his injury is more complicated than initially thought. Demons football boss Alan Richardson said the club was certain the week Oliver spent “immobile” in hospital due to an infection had made the injury worse. “Clayton has a complex hamstring injury, due to the fact that the injury is located where the muscle attaches to the tendon, and to further complicate that, there is injury to two separate hamstring muscles,” Richardson said. “There is no doubt that Clayton’s recovery has been complicated by the week he was required to spend immobile in hospital. “What we have experienced so far is that Clayton can comfortably achieve 90 per cent of his running capacity, but as we saw yesterday, he is unable to get to full speed to pass his minimum training markers.” The frustrating setback comes after the Demons earlier this week confirmed Bayley Fritsch would miss the rest of the home-and-away season after breaking his left foot against the Giants in Alice Springs. The Demons’ bid to consolidate their top-four spot will now be made without their best midfielder and forward amid a raft of inefficiency issues in their forward half. Richardson said the club would take no risks with Oliver despite the on-field woes of the last month. “This suggests that, due to the discomfort Clayton felt during his run throughs, further recovery time is required. At this stage, we expect this will be three to four weeks,” he said. “The club will continue to explore all treatment options for Clayton, but as with all players, we won’t be taking any risks with his return to play timelines.”