'Incredibly angry': Why Goodwin hasn't spoken to Demons star after ...

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has revealed he’s yet to speak with Joel Smith since the forward tested positive to a banned drug, but has thrown his support behind embattled midfielder Clayton Oliver.

Smith was provisionally suspended after returning a positive test for cocaine on match day following round 23, with his case now being investigated by the AFL’s integrity unit.

In a pre-recorded interview with SEN, Goodwin said he and Smith had not spoken since the revelation.

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“I can only go by how I feel, and when I first heard, I was incredibly angry, frustrated, to think that potentially we have a player in round 23 on the eve of a finals series not doing everything possible to help the success of our footy team. I can only imagine that same feeling would be permeating through our supporter base,” Goodwin said.

“I haven’t spoken to Joel. I am going to let that process play out because I have a level of anger, of frustration towards it.

“There are the right people that are talking to Joel from a welfare perspective and are working really closely with him.”

Goodwin added Smith had not tried to contact him, either.

Oliver has endured a difficult 2023, with an extended injury layoff compounded by speculation over his future at the club ahead of the trade period before the Demons ultimately doused any idea of a move.

The Herald Sun revealed earlier this month Oliver was with Smith on the night of the former’s hospitalisation.

It comes amid concern from those at the club for Oliver’s wellbeing, but Goodwin said the issues didn’t come as a surprise to the Dees this year.

“Clayton Oliver has got some personal challenges and that’s the best way we can describe it. It’s a very complex situation that we’ve got going on with Clayton and clearly those challenges have been ongoing for multiple years,” he said.

“This isn’t something that has just reared its head in recent times. This is something that has been ongoing for our footy club and ongoing for our team for a number of years.

“We’re working incredibly closely with Clayton right now and building the best people around him and care around him to deal with his complex personal issues.”

Amid trade rumours surrounding Oliver were reports the Demons had challenged the star midfielder’s behaviour.

Goodwin confirmed the side had pushed Oliver to be more professional, which the club also confirmed in a letter to members on Monday night.

“What Clayton needs to be really clear on is that we now have some minimum standards of behaviour that we want him to adhere to,” Goodwin said on SEN.

“And if he can’t come along with our culture, there will be some consequences that come with that and we need to be in a position where we can drive our high-performance culture and Clayton is a big part of that.

“Teams that have great clarity on culture and team behaviours ultimately have success and there’s no individual that’s above that and we’re going to build that around Clayton.”

Still, Goodwin insisted the club “didn’t consider trading” the four-time best and fairest winner.

“It came up at a period of time when we were working with Clayton to really buy into the behaviours that we’re looking for from him and it all culminated at once,” he said.

“That’s why the club didn’t speak for two or three days. There were these rumours going around about trade but we were looking to get a real, clear commitment from Clayton that he was prepared to do the work, to buy into the standards and behaviours and minimum things we were looking for and to really want to be a part of the Melbourne footy club.

“In the end he did, he wanted to be a part of where we’re going and we’re going to work with him to do that.

“So that’s why it played out that way. But we weren’t in a position where we wanted to trade Clayton Oliver.”