1 minute ago, Jaded No More said:

Well I guess they tagged Oliver and had the midfield ascendancy, so it was the right call by Mitchell. 

Sadly for Mitchell, we have too many good players and you just can’t tag them all. When they took the tag off Oliver he basically won us the game in 10 minutes.  
 

So sad for Hawks 🙄

But surely you'd make sure someone tracks Rivers. It'd be like allowing Saad to run free, except Rivers is far more damaging because he intercept marks.

2 minutes ago, Binmans PA said:

But surely you'd make sure someone tracks Rivers. It'd be like allowing Saad to run free, except Rivers is far more damaging because he intercept marks.

He’s not premiership coach Goodwin, now is he? 😂

18 minutes ago, Binmans PA said:

But surely you'd make sure someone tracks Rivers. It'd be like allowing Saad to run free, except Rivers is far more damaging because he intercept marks.

I get your point, but teams don’t mind Saad having the ball as while he provides run, he generally kicks it 60 metres straight upwards and isn’t overly effective. Had a good year last year, but bit of a butcher.

Rivers is already producing more goals assists, more score involvements, more score launches. Testament to Rivers that he’s already surpassed Saad as a player at such a young age!

2 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

I get your point, but teams don’t mind Saad having the ball as while he provides run, he generally kicks it 60 metres straight upwards and isn’t overly effective. Had a good year last year, but bit of a butcher.

Rivers is already producing more goals assists, more score involvements, more score launches. Testament to Rivers that he’s already surpassed Saad as a player at such a young age!

Agreed, I don't particularly rate Saad, let's go with Nick Daicos instead. Imagine not tracking him from every kick out and allowing him to handball receive. He'd cut you apart and does. Again, Rivers plays a different role, but strange.

Having said all that, I do think the Oliver tag makes sense.

11 hours ago, Gawndy the Great said:

Rivers is definitely a steel. Definitely has some room to grow as well.

He is a good size, has good speed and lovely kick. Hopefully he can further develop his play making to go hand-in-hand with his kicking to really explode off half back. 

I said in another thread that he needs a partner in crime down back. Pig is getting on in age and will probably retire this year. Bowey and Salo just falling short atm. If either one of them can find some of their best form, then we will have a very strong HB line.

Called McVee

I'm a very big fan of this kid, probably more than Petracca at the same age tbh. Has poise, class, skill, dare, courage and high footy IQ - he reads the play and future plays so well. Would not surprise me if hes a future Melbourne captain.

A bit of Tom Stewart about him...

I love Riv ❤️

Trent Rivers is a cool guy, he intercept marks and doesn't afraid of anybody.

13 hours ago, Binmans PA said:

So it took them three quarters to make the move? Pretty poor coaching if that's the case.

Mitchell would be wanting to teach out of the game more than winning it.

considering he came with Dogga I reckon we have retained the better of the two based on our needs

I think most of last year was frustrating for Riv. I think he knew what he was capable of but he didn’t have the consistency in his legs.

I actually feel the same way about Salem this year. Preseason and a good run of injuries makes such a difference, particularly to running, behind the ball players.

40 minutes ago, Salems Lot said:

considering he came with Dogga I reckon we have retained the better of the two based on our needs

They were best mates.

Since Darcys been out injured, Dogga has been really good, there's only room for one of them, maybe they'll trade Darcy?

 

Interesting little tid bit on SEN this morning, Gary Lyon stating that the MFC believe both Rivers and McVee (cc: @Jjrogan) can play midfield, but they don't have room for them at the moment 

Maybe Garry Lyon is onto something here? 🤔

I wouldn't mind seeing Trent Rivers get more of a run in the midfield. Especially with that massive booming kick of his!

I remember Trent Rivers was given some midfield time in the pre-season against St. Kilda down at Moorabbin.

 

13 minutes ago, adonski said:

Interesting little tid bit on SEN this morning, Gary Lyon stating that the MFC believe both Rivers and McVee (cc: @Jjrogan) can play midfield, but they don't have room for them at the moment 

I'd worry about our rebound from defence without Rivers in there. McVee does well when he gets it but isn't super damaging, and Salem and Bowey are 50/50 as to whether they'll end up costing us with their disposal these days.

I've seen enough! He stays in the midfield for the rest of the year and trains there all next preseason.

He'll need to improve in his work below the knees, but almost everything else about his game I love.

Best of all, he's still only 22... prime generally isn't reached until around 25 years old.

Edited July 7, 20241 yr by seventyfour

Adds a touch of cleanliness by foot that we’ve lacked, especially with Trac out. Future leader too IMO - important with the pretty lengthy list of players from WA we seem to be assembling. Loving his progress - hard to believe he’s still just a tacker himself.

The 14 year old is a Melbourne fan now because Rivers is “very cute”. 
He’s working very hard for us is Trent 😂

Can’t see him moving out of midfield ever again

 Natural

A reactive, not proactive move from Goodwin to move Rivers into the midfield, hand forced by Petracca's injury

Wonder if this will unlock the flow of Goodwin's creative juices?

Gun