Dees make call on star’s fitness

Demons coach Simon Goodwin says the midfielder will doubtless be in hospital till Sunday as a result of “pretty serious” an infection from a blister on his foot that has required robust antibiotics.

He mentioned Oliver would regulate his vacation plans to arrange for the Demons’ spherical 15 conflict in opposition to Geelong that comes after his aspect’s bye however solely 10 days after the Magpies recreation.

“I did promise (Oliver) was going to play, didn’t I? I’m going to have to go back on that word, he’s definitely not playing,” Goodwin mentioned.

“He’s still in hospital with an infected foot – it was pretty serious at the time, the infection – he’ll probably end up with five days in hospital and he’s probably not looking likely to get out until Sunday.

“He definitely won’t be playing this week.”

Goodwin mentioned the Demons had been “hopeful” Oliver would get better shortly and be capable to return instantly after the bye.

“We’re pretty hopeful that once he gets through that period, it’s going to be a fast transition back,” he mentioned.

“It’s just a blister … it just took off. It’s not the first infection we’ve had within our footy club this year, we had a pretty significant one with Joel Smith as well.

“We deal with it as we go through, but as I said it’s pretty serious, it all happened pretty quickly.”

Goodwin mentioned premiership full-forward Ben Brown would want to supply increased stage performances within the VFL to power his manner again into the senior aspect, however insisted the Demons remained “open minded” in the direction of choosing Brown in the identical aspect as ruck duo Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy.

“Browny is in solid form, he’s not in brilliant form … he’s played one or two good games at the VFL level, so we’re just looking for consistency,” Goodwin mentioned.

“In the end, if he’s playing to a really high level, then he’s going to play AFL footy.”

Goodwin mentioned the Demons’ scoring points had develop into a priority over the past three weeks, with Melbourne ranked sixth for ahead entries however sixteenth for scores per inside 50.

“We’ve still got work to do there, there’s no doubt about that, but on the flip side what I have been absolutely rapt with is how we’ve defended,” he mentioned.

“We created 40 forward half turnovers last week which is a record in the game, so there’s certainly areas in our game that are going well but we need to try and maximise those (by scoring) as well.”