The three-time All-Australian midfielder and four-time club best-and-fairest winner stood out in Saturday morning's baking heat at Arden St, as the Demons pulled away from the Kangaroos for a convincing win.
While a lot has to happen before Melbourne and Oliver convince their doubters, this was the "old" Oliver - clean hands at stoppages and repeat efforts.
Oliver was rested in the last term as the Demons kicked clear for the 18.9 (117) to 10.11 (71) win.
The one worry for Melbourne was a knee injury to second-year defender Andy Moniz-Wakefield with only a couple of minutes left.
He will undergo scans, amid concerns it might be serious.
With fellow stars Max Gawn, Christian Petracca, Jack Viney and Steven May not playing, Oliver was the focus of attention for the Demons and he did not disappoint.
He has had well-publicised problems off the field and was on the trade table after last season, going so far as to meet with Geelong.
"It was good to see 'Clarrie' get back to his best. He still has a lot of room for improvement, but he's sharing the load in there - we don't just have to rely on 'Claz' any more," said Melbourne assistant coach Troy Chaplin.
"Obviously last year he was dealing with a fair bit away from the game and I suppose we didn't get him until this time last year.
"It's not just Clarrie the footballer, we also love Clarrie the person and we want to see the best version of him. We're starting to see that now.
"When you get both of them together, you get that sort of performance today."
But Chaplin admitted they are worried about Moniz-Wakefield's injury.
"It looked pretty nasty, obviously he's pretty flat at the moment. We'll have to go away and get a scan, just to confirm it," he said.
"We're hoping for the best there ... we just don't know."
Key forward Jacob van Rooyen kicked four goals as first-round draft picks Harvey Langford and Xavier Lindsay also impressed.
Now at his fourth club, Tom Campbell went up against Tristan Xerri in the ruck and showed he could be a valuable back-up for Gawn.
The Kangaroos, bottom four for the last five seasons, stuck with the Demons for much of the game.
"There was plenty to like ... at times, 90 per cent of our play was really good and we probably just didn't finish off inside 50," said assistant coach Leigh Adams.
"Defensively for the first three quarters we held up really well. We probably ran out of legs towards the end."
Of their recruits Caleb Daniel shone off half-back, while Jack Darling combined well with Nick Larkey in attack and Luke Parker also had his first run for the Kangaroos.
"He's pretty handy, isn't he? We're talking about us needing to get our fundamentals better ... he just lifts the standard so much," Adams said of Daniel.
Midfielder Finn O'Sullivan, taken by North with the No.2 pick in last year's draft, showed he will be ready for a round-one debut.
Captain Jy Simpkin was a late withdrawal after playing in last weekend's Indigenous All-Stars game.
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