1 hour ago, Maldonboy38 said:

You beat me to it, chookrat! His forward craft, power and team-first attitude are outstanding but I have to admit to being appalled at how often he got away with belting opposition players, and pushing in the back.

My question would be - "does this great forward know how to convey his craft to other younger players"?. Shannon Neale speaks highly of Hawkins' influence so let's hope so.

Neales development has been outstanding. King has obviously seen a development gap for our key forwards.

Welcome home

Welcome home!!!!

At training when someone says "RIV"

1 minute ago, Travy14 said:

Welcome home

I like it.

Got to see him coach a few games at Collegians a couple of years ago. I believe he's been Collingwood's VFL coach as well in the past.

I didn't know Riv was at St Kilda. Maybe he can get on the blower to Cam Bruce too and we really get the band back together. (not going to happen, I know)

Jared Rivers returns to club as AC. What was his role at Saints? Not exactly jumping through hoops over this appointment.

On 07/10/2025 at 11:01, Adam The God said:

Jeepers, Hamill? 😬

I spent 5 minutes looking for that grimacing meme, but anyway, that's the thinking.

Was at St Kilda through ordinary times and was defensive coach at Carlton, a team who couldn't defend.

2025 - 1861 (10th)
2024 - 1952 (14th)
2023 - 1697 (4th)
2022 - 1714 (6th)

Not really that bad a run considering their lack of consistency around Weitering, lots of turning in the 2nd and 3rd talls especially and lackluster forward pressure to help the backline out.

My bigger concern than defending tho is Carlton are in the same boat as us as a team that doesn't use the ball aggressively from the backline.

3 minutes ago, BKKBooga said:

Jared Rivers returns to club as AC. What was his role at Saints? Not exactly jumping through hoops over this appointment.

Backline at the Saints. He likely beats out Hamill for that role with us.

Backline - Rivers
Mids - Jones
Forwards - Chappy
Development - Whitford

Scarlo and Hawk as part time key back/key forward mentors.

Hopefully room for one more, either a senior assistant, or a VFL coach/development 2IC

Nice of him to join his son at the footy club now.

My heart is already warming for Alex Neal-Bullen's return in 2037.

I wonder if Rivers and Hawkins will have the occasional one-on-one session? After all, they did play together at Geelong for a few seasons.

I still (approximately) remember the glorious Riv quote from back in the day;

"Dealing with the attention and now social media can be difficult sometimes, especially if you're an [censored]."

When 2 Rivers meet… are they related as both WA boys?

4 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Nice of him to join his son at the footy club now.

Old man Rivers

Rivdog Sr and Rivdog Jr, it was always meant to be.

7 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Backline at the Saints. He likely beats out Hamill for that role with us.

Backline - Rivers
Mids - Jones
Forwards - Chappy
Development - Whitford

Scarlo and Hawk as part time key back/key forward mentors.

Hopefully room for one more, either a senior assistant, or a VFL coach/development 2IC

Hamill is coming as well. Perhaps Hamill will be forward coach and Chaplin simply ball movement and strategy/senior assistant. Maybe, baby.

4 minutes ago, Demonsone said:

When 2 Rivers meet… are they related as both WA boys?

No, Jared is from SA

Commentators are gonna have to learn that Rivers is actually Trent and not Jared, or it's gonna get very confusing watching games

Edited October 9Oct 9 by Very Jaded

I sense a confluence

Jared and Trent …Riv and Trib?

25 minutes ago, BKKBooga said:

Jared Rivers returns to club as AC. What was his role at Saints? Not exactly jumping through hoops over this appointment.

Given the number of times commentators in the media still refer to Trent Rivers as Jared Rivers, I can't work out if this appointment is going to make things better or worse.

Coached Wesley Old Boys? to a premiership

2 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Given the number of times commentators in the media still refer to Trent Rivers as Jared Rivers, I can't work out if this appointment is going to make things better or worse.

10 times worse

Anyway, here's a quick link dump for anyone wanting to form an impression;

TLDR; Assistant at Collingwood for 5 years, development and then VFL senior coach, North Melbourne for 1 season before Covid cuts, then a VAFA head coach with great success, returned to AFL level at St Kilda as backline coach for 2025, is now a Demon again.

Other fun details -

he starting coaching just two months after finishing playing, and pushed out Craig McRae as Collingwood's development coach.

Collegians was the best offensive AND defensive side in their premiership year under Rivers. "Considering when Jared was appointed in 2021, Collegians were languishing in the relegation zone, for Rivers to then win the premiership is nothing short of a masterclass."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Rivers - includes a lot about his VAFA time.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2024/12/13/the-young-boys-have-been-fantastic-new-saints-assistant-jared-rivers-excited - likes young boys.

https://www.saints.com.au/news/1678585/saints-welcome-bolton-and-rivers - another article from joining Saints

https://www.thefootycoach.com.au/podcast/24-jared-rivers-afl-coaching-and-playing-insights-applied-to-community-football - podcast interview about his career, including coaching

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNkW7kjuOaw Interview when appointed at North, in November 2019 - kind of eerie in that he never really got to fill the role due to covid cuts.

https://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/video/409955/vfl-bf-coach-jared-rivers-and-marty-hores-speech?videoId=409955&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1539039600001 - its a small world, Jared Rivers VFL coach hands over to his best and fairest, Marty Hore!

Welcome Back. Two Riv's are better than one. https://youtu.be/Mmm3KTa601s.