Clayton Oliver is a four-time best and fairest winner, a three-time All Australian and a premiership player at Melbourne. At his best, there are few, if any, better inside-midfielders in the AFL.

In a season when he was largely searching for form after the off-field tumult of the past 18 months, including his wish to be traded to Geelong, Oliver could easily have grumbled at the suggestion he be shifted from a role he had owned, particularly as he was still averaging more than 27 disposals and seven clearances a game.

Instead, the Demons say Oliver has embraced a new role as a run-with player – although not quite in the mould of a true defensive tagger – over the past fortnight.

After sitting out the game against West Coast, he held star Hawk Jai Newcombe in check in round nine in the absence of Jack Viney (concussion), although he had only 14 touches of his own as the Demons’ three-game winning streak was snapped. Regardless, coach Simon Goodwin praised Oliver’s work in the tagging role, declaring, perhaps pointedly, he had brought “a real focus on what he could do for the team, and it is ultimately about what you can do for the team”.

Oliver on Sunday won further plaudits for ensuring dual Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale was heldt accountable and forced to work hard in a stunning 11-point win over Brisbane at the Gabba.

“What I see with Clayton is a great teammate who is willing to do what it takes for the team,” Demons forward Jake Melksham said on Monday.

“You could definitely say the first eight or nine years of his career, he was the man, and other sides were going after him. He has had a lighter year in terms of his lofty standards, but now what he is doing is evolving and adding another string to his bow.”

Goodwin’s move has ensured Oliver is at contest, where he thrives. It’s not that he had forgotten how to get the hard ball. Rather, lining up on Neale ensured Oliver was regularly in the heat of the battle, where the Demons always back the big-bodied mid to thrive.

“I actually think it took him to the ball,” AFL great Jimmy Bartel noted on Nine’s Footy Furnace.

“There were a couple of instances where Oliver got the footy while he was tracking Neale. There was a turnover and error, and he was in a great position.”

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While Neale still had 30 disposals, including six clearances, Oliver finished with 23 touches, including seven clearances, a critical knock-on for a Kysaiah Pickett goal during the third term, and a goal of his own.

“Neale still had his 30, but I think it still brought Oliver into the game,” Bartel said.

Oliver isn’t the first blue-chip midfielder to adapt his game for time in the shadows. Carlton legend Craig Bradley did it back in the day, so did Richmond great Trent Cotchin. Bartel even famously volunteered to take a stopping role on St Kilda’s Lenny Hayes at quarter-time in the 2009 grand final, slowing the rampant midfielder in a performance that helped Geelong to a two-goal win.

Steele Sidebottom and Scott Pendlebury have spent time with run-with roles, Pendlebury even heading to Crows’ gun Jordan Dawson in the second term on Saturday and helping restrict him to five touches for the term. St Kilda skipper Jack Steele also knows how to find the ball, but has been a superb tagger.

Melksham said the Demons always backed Oliver to win a one-on-one contest.

“If you put him in a contest in a phone box with another individual from any team in the competition, we are going to back him in because that is what he does well. He is a competitive beast, an animal in there,” Melksham told SEN.

“So, we are just going to keep putting him in those positions where his strengths lie, and doing stuff for the team is what is required in his role at the moment. He is doing a great job of it.”

Speaking after Sunday night’s win, Goodwin said Oliver has been “brilliant in his desire to help the team”.

“It’s real leadership. We saw tonight Clayton starting to evolve himself back to the player we all knew. It was clear it’d take time, and we’re 10 weeks in, and you can see he’s starting to get his game back to a high level,” Goodwin said.

“The last two weeks has given him genuine purpose. He wanted to take this up and really show he can help the team around the ball.”

Goodwin’s comments post match back the statement he made at a press conference last week, when he said: “We’re not committed to [Oliver] being a long-term tagger. It’s about what’s best for the team right now”.

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If, as Goodwin says, Oliver is morphing himself back “to the player we all knew”, the Demons will need to weigh up, particularly when Viney returns, whether it’s best Oliver returns to being hunted by opposition stoppers, as opposed to being the hunter he has become of late.

The Demons have won four of their past five games, and a season that was on the rocks after a barren opening five rounds, with Goodwin under enormous pressure, is suddenly alive.

As Goodwin has repeatedly said, it’s what is best for the team that truly matters.