FROM zero per cent last pre-season to 100 per cent this summer. 

Of all the stats to bubble to the surface since last season ended, the above confirmation from Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin might prove to be the most consequential in 2025. 

This time last year, Clayton Oliver hadn't trained with the main group all pre-season. He left a training camp early in December and then was granted extended leave by the Demons in January, amid well documented personal challenges that threatened his career.

Somehow, Oliver did enough to be picked in Opening Round and still played 21 games in 2024, but the four-time best-and-fairest winner was a shadow of his best due to fitness and injury concerns that included a broken hand, fractured ribs and a PCL injury.

Then came the Trade Period fiasco. Despite being contracted at Melbourne until 2030, Oliver met with Geelong and explored a move down the highway. But the Demons chose not to entertain a trade at a time when Christian Petracca also considered his options, before the club made sweeping leadership changes at the top. 

Since then, there has been a summer of healing at Melbourne. And on Sunday night, Oliver put a full stop on a flawless pre-season, collecting 28 disposals, 13 contested possessions, 11 clearances, nine inside 50s, 588 metres gained and three goals in the AAMI Community Series loss to Fremantle. 

That performance arrived after a best on ground showing in a match simulation against North Melbourne eight days earlier at Arden Street. 

The real test will come in the winter months, but after more than 12 months in the wilderness, Oliver appears to have come in from the cold. Time will tell if he can return to his absolute best, but right now, the 27-year-old is well and truly back on track. 

"If we go back 12 months, he'd done zero per cent of the pre-season at this exact point. He hadn't trained with the group at all at this point of the pre-season," Goodwin told AFL.com.au. 

"You fast forward 12 months and he has been able to work on himself as a person. But clearly last year without that work and the lack of pre-season, his footy suffered. 

"You fast forward 12 months and the continuation of his work on himself and then a full pre-season – he has done 100 per cent, he hasn't missed a session – the last month you can see it all coming together for him. 

"The conversations were really about getting him back to the best person first, then we could work on the football second. 

"We are at that point now where he's in a really happy spot, he is working incredibly hard on his footy and we feel like he is getting towards being a great contributor to our team again."

Fitness is the primary focus at football clubs across the country during pre-season, but healing has taken precedence at Melbourne this summer after the most tumultuous off-season of Goodwin's decade at the Demons. 

Petracca and Oliver dominated discussion in October, but on Sunday in Western Australia, the superstar pair dominated against the Dockers to show the on-field gains made after months spent focused on repairing the wounds of the past.

With the guidance of revered mindset coach Ben Crowe, Goodwin has made changes to the program, but ahead of 2025, no one has epitomised those changes more than the inside midfielder in the No.13 guernsey.

"It has taken a full club, but it has obviously taken an enormous effort from Clayton. We couldn't be happier," Goodwin said.

"He has had a great team working with him, not only within the footy club, but also away from the footy club. 

"His family and support networks have been as important as the people that have been working with him."

AFL.com.au's full interview with Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin will soon be uploaded to the Your Coach podcast feed. Subscribe now to hear from your club's coach ahead of the 2025 AFL season