Mckenzie out, rivers in

[frankie_d 1,415]

At Etihad. Just heard mckenzie out rivers in. Any info out there? Injury? Surely not form!

[Lil_red_fire_engine 10,443]

And he should be straight back out of the side after today. He was useless. Is not tall enough to play on the true talls and does not have the speed to play on leading forwards. He offers no run and has poor skills. There is no matchup for him against the dogs next week. Back to casey you go.

Edited May 1, 2010 by big_red_fire_engine

[Pipefitter 2,083]

Real shame how he's travelling. He's one of my favourites but questions are being raised rightly so about him at the moment.

[Felix 92]

And he should be straight back out of the side after today. He was useless. Is not tall enough to play on the true talls and does not have the speed to play on leading forwards. He offers no run and has poor skills. There is no matchup for him against the dogs next week. Back to casey you go.

Along with Martin. Juice only had a few opportunities in the seniors before being dropped. Why do some of the other boys get more chances?

[Jaded No More 59,788]

And he should be straight back out of the side after today. He was useless. Is not tall enough to play on the true talls and does not have the speed to play on leading forwards. He offers no run and has poor skills. There is no matchup for him against the dogs next week. Back to casey you go.

He was better than MacDonald, although not by much.

We can't play both of these guys together, because they are too similar and limit our defensive options.

Rivers is one of my favourites, but he has lost his way since spending 3 years consistently injured, which in some ways is understandable, but it doesn't help progress us forward. I'd give him the year to prove that he still has what it takes, and if not, I'd look to trade him. Shattered to be saying this, but it's the sad reality.

[stranga 328]

Rivers is no longer in our best 22. Slow, average skills, no run out of defence. Doesnt suit the way we play with our link up out of defence.

[hillie 41]

think more importantly is how we missed mckenzie. his tackling pressure would hve been handy in the first half

[Nasher 33,246]

think more importantly is how we missed mckenzie. his tackling pressure would hve been handy in the first half

I agree. As soon as I heard he was out my stomach turned.

[deanox 8,945]

not only jordies tackling, but he pops up in the centre often, straightening us up in our attack on goal, but no one else did that this week.

[Dee Fan 3,247]

Still trying to work out why we replaced a midfielder with an extra backman. We missed Jordie today but in all honesty it was like Beach Football and the majority of our players just couldn't keep their feet, it must have been so hard to get purchase when trying to kick. No wonder there are so few goals and so many points kicked at Etihad.

[Guest Guy Rigoni]

Correct me if i'm wrong but Rivers played on Aaron Edwards for most of the game and he was kept goaless.

Hale was the only tall forward for the Roos' to snag a goal or so.

The Rivers hate is crazy on this board, never mind the fact that a single Melbourne midfielder could not break a [censored] tackle, or not give off a hospital handpass.

[warren dean 193]

Correct me if i'm wrong but Rivers played on Aaron Edwards for most of the game and he was kept goaless.

Hale was the only tall forward for the Roos' to snag a goal or so.

The Rivers hate is crazy on this board, never mind the fact that a single Melbourne midfielder could not break a [censored] tackle, or not give off a hospital handpass.

Was thinking the same myself. I thought Rivers was actually effective today in his role on Edwards. In fact I thought the whole defence battled manfully given the very poor effort from our midfield in the first half.

[titan_uranus 23,133]

Correct me if i'm wrong but Rivers played on Aaron Edwards for most of the game and he was kept goaless.

Hale was the only tall forward for the Roos' to snag a goal or so.

The Rivers hate is crazy on this board, never mind the fact that a single Melbourne midfielder could not break a [censored] tackle, or not give off a hospital handpass.

I've been a big Rivers fan. But he showed me yesterday that he brings close to nothing to the team.

Don't read anything into his beating Edwards. Edwards is useless. Anyone could beat him.

He is slow. He can't kick. Those together spell disaster if you're trying to get a spot in this team. And yes, MacDonald didn't play well yesterday but he's played well up until this game. He's a good one-on-one defender, but we've already got Warnock and Frawley, with Garland a much better kick, runner and equally adept at being the third man up.

I just feel so down about it, but Rivers doesn't bring anything to the team, and playing him keeps players like Bail, McKenzie, Cheney, McNamara and Strauss out of the side.

[Lil_red_fire_engine 10,443]

Below is the Dogs forwardline from Friday night. Who does Rivers play on?

HF: Robert Murphy, Mitch Hahn, Brad Johnson

F: Daniel Giansiracusa, Barry Hall, Jason Akermanis

For mine its Warnock to Hall, Frawley to Hahn, Bruce to Johnson, Garland to Murphy, Grimes to Gia, Bartram to Aker. Joel MacDonald as a swing man for Hahn, Murphy or Johnson.

[timD 994]

Red, I wonder if Rivers would be better on hahn and frawley used on the resting ruckman that eade often uses.

[titan_uranus 23,133]

Below is the Dogs forwardline from Friday night. Who does Rivers play on?

HF: Robert Murphy, Mitch Hahn, Brad Johnson

F: Daniel Giansiracusa, Barry Hall, Jason Akermanis

For mine its Warnock to Hall, Frawley to Hahn, Bruce to Johnson, Garland to Murphy, Grimes to Gia, Bartram to Aker. Joel MacDonald as a swing man for Hahn, Murphy or Johnson.

Jarrad Grant spent a lot of time forward, and looked pretty good too. Johnson was further up the ground. Grant commands a taller player, but nothing to stretch our defence to the point where we must keep Rivers.

[DeeSpencer 23,637]

They will only have 6 forwards at any time, we need 7 defenders. Bartram should drop back into the back pocket or flank most likely to play on Aka or Gia. It leaves us with a spare defender and despite Warnock and Macdonald in particularly not being great on Saturday I still believe Rivers should be the one to make way. Cheney and Strauss will also be pushing for a spot if they feel multiple changes are necessary down back, but I don't.