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How Oliver managed to land at the Giants
Nicholas Quinlan • December 14th, 2025 3:28 pm
GWS’s General Manager of Football, Jason McCartney, has given some insight into how the club signed Melbourne’s Clayton Oliver during the Trade Period.
The 28-year-old would leave the Demons after 10 seasons of service, which saw him help break the club’s 57-year premiership drought and win four best and fairest awards for just a future third-round pick.
The pick-up of Oliver is a handy one for the Giants, who will be without midfielder Josh Kelly for most of the 2026 season having had hip surgery.
Having beaten the likes of Collingwood to his signature, McCartney noted the importance of the club’s agility to respond to the situation and sold him the vision of the club having made the most of an opportune trip the midfielder had booked to the Harbour City prior to the negotiations.
“It’s one of those ones in this space, you do a lot of work on a lot of players from a long way out,” McCartney said on SEN 1170’s Mornings.
“And then there’s some with circumstances that just present, and when they do, like the one with Clayton did, obviously Simon Goodwin finishing up halfway through the year and the appointment of a new coach and a bit of a change of direction, so that wasn’t on the cards until probably four or five days before the Trade Period began.
“But that’s what you need to do, you need to be agile enough to move when something like this presents.
“So, we were able to get in front of Clayton very early on and sell what the club’s about and what a lifestyle in Sydney could be like.
“We are wrapped to get that one across the line during the Trade Period.”
Having made the finals in the last three seasons but unable to reach the Grand Final, the signing of Oliver shows the club’s intent on trying to claim their maiden premiership.
But as McCartney discussed, there are challenges unique to the Giants that they need to improve on to give themselves the best opportunity to win it all, particularly when they are away from their home ground in ENGIE Stadium due to the Sydney Easter Show.
“The big thing for us, and it’s been there and it will never go away, is just how we manage a little bit better,” he explained.
“We start the season well in the first month, and it’s then we are out of and away from ENGIE Stadium and on the road for a period of time between the Easter show when the ground is not available.
“Because we end up with three and four weeks in a row, albeit with some home games in Canberra, which is fantastic for us. But (having) three and four weeks where you get on planes or get on buses, which no other team does.
“So, we just need to look at how our program during that time on how we do things a little bit differently to keep the players fresh. That's predominantly the period we struggle a bit."
The Giants will look to avenge their elimination final loss against the Hawks when they face off in Opening Round to begin their seasons.
That will be held at ENGIE Stadium on March 7.
Photo Credit: GWS Giants' Instagram Account
