27-year-old Melbourne Demons midfielder Oliver returned to training at Casey Fields on Tuesday morning after taking a one-week mental health leave of absence from the sport, skipping their 32-point win over the West Coast Eagles in Perth last weekend.
Oliver is reportedly growing increasingly frustrated what he believes is a lack of on-field game time, which has dropped to below 80% in 2025.
That follows the club's refusal to facilitate a trade to Geelong at the end of last year with Demons management sticking firm to his multi-million dollar contract which runs through to the end of 2030.
Teammate Jack Viney told reporters that Oliver was "back to his old self" during the Tuesday morning run in Cranbourne, and the ongoing saga surrounding his long-term future appeared to be settling before a 'doorstop' outside Casey Fields from Nine Network television reporter Joel Kennedy triggered an angry rebuke from interim club head Brad Green.
Oliver, walking from the carpark into the training session, was asked if he would be playing this weekend only to respond with a seemingly indifferent "who knows, mate" that reportedly left some of his bosses disappointed.
Green described the media coverage surrounding Oliver's story as "an absolute disgrace".
Caroline Wilson and Kane Cornes were among those to slam Green for his comments on Tuesday night, with Wilson describing Green's post as "really unedifying" and Cornes demanding that the interim President "stop going to Twitter and acting like a football fan and reacting every time he thinks his club has been harshly treated".
Veteran journalist and former Collingwood President Eddie McGuire knows what it's like to walk in both pairs of shoes and he too sided with the media, instructing Green to "put the phone away".
"This is going to be a big story until it's not. It's as simple as that."
