14 hours ago, Little Goffy said:

I'm going to run with the theory that King expects Rivers to present himself as a leader at the club and a key part of the new generation.

This makes sense to me.

The whole thing about being a poor tackler seems highly plausible. The problem with it is that what happens when others let opponents walk past them throughout the season? The idea that Rivers is held to higher standards is the answer.

Interesting to see how King responds to very experienced players who fail to stick tackles but aren't thought of as leaders in the same vein as Rivers. Two recidivists spring to mind, but neither are considered potential midfielders.

Just an uninformed view

Rivers omitted, surprised, while OK he had not been “clean” enough, perhaps he is better in the back half. And he is better than those first couple games.

Think Sparra is lucky unless he had been following strict team orders.

Good luck to the Max, TMac and Paddy.

But I am like Sargent Schultz !

Rivers announced his engagement recently… just sayin’

May be worthwhile noting Rivers only attending 10% of centre bounce attendance vs Freo

There’s a theory that some players lose their sparkle after getting engaged, married or have kids… just saying for a friend

5 minutes ago, joeboy said:

There’s a theory that some players lose their sparkle after getting engaged, married or have kids… just saying for a friend

how does getting engaged prevent rivers from laying tackles

Just now, BDA said:

how does getting engaged prevent rivers from laying tackles

Maybe he doesn’t want to make his fiancé jealous

Might well be just a temporary loss of form that heaps of AFL players go through from time to time.

4 hours ago, The Jackson FIX said:

Understand the Rivers decision but why Cross in? He didn’t really stand out to my eye in the 2s match last week

Plays angry?

Rivers got dropped because he hasn’t been very good to start the year - it really is that simple

And while a few others have also started poorly (Sparrow and Lever come to mind) I think it’s Rivers’ lack of defensive intent that has seen him dropped first

Can’t be missing tackles and not contributing to scoring chains

Super pumped to see Paddy Cross get his list spot and now his debut. But …

To get promoted after a 11 disposal game , 1 goal, 5 tackles game v Dogs VFL. I watched the game and Paddy did 1-2 nice things but didn’t stand out as a player due for promotion. Also he is another small half forward. We already have a few (perhaps too many) already in the team. He can snag a goal do again perhaps King looking more from his small goal kickers. Chin, Latrelle & Sparrow lucky to stay in.

Riv getting dropped. Thats a tough call. He wasn’t the best … but wasn’t the worst. Yes perhaps the costly fumble and costly missed tackle resulted in two Freo goals. But others also made a few turnovers and mistakes. Riv’s role is also getting confused. Do they want him in the midfield? He only attended 3 centre ball plays which is extremely low. Was King pushing him back. Riv had 21 disposals and 501 metres gained, the 6th best of both teams. Thats good. Yes a few mistakes were costly but to get dropped is a real kick in the pants. Riv will respond and be back soon.

If the side is as selected and Lindsay plays up the ground, then over then next weeks I think Rivers will come back into the side as the spare half back, however he then has to overcome AMW. With a Casey bye there's no opportunity to compare them.

Tholstrup is the only other obvious one in the team to rest the other HBF's. Seems a bit out of balance to me.

32 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Super pumped to see Paddy Cross get his list spot and now his debut. But …

To get promoted after a 11 disposal game , 1 goal, 5 tackles game v Dogs VFL. I watched the game and Paddy did 1-2 nice things but didn’t stand out as a player due for promotion. Also he is another small half forward. We already have a few (perhaps too many) already in the team. He can snag a goal do again perhaps King looking more from his small goal kickers. Chin, Latrelle & Sparrow lucky to stay in.

more of a medium half forward and can take a mark. Plays tall for 183cm

We should do extremely well, forget about last week's result. Blues to win by 20 pts.

20 hours ago, DubDee said:

I prefer

you got Tholstruped!

Tholstruck?

5 hours ago, Lil_red_fire_engine said:

I wonder with Cross coming in I assume to fill a half forward spot if Culley shifts more into the mid rotation this week.

I think that's exactly what will happen, and I suspect that might be a big factor in both th selection of cross and riv being dropped.

It also mean Koz can have more CBAs

4 hours ago, joeboy said:

Maybe he doesn’t want to make his fiancé jealous

He's a good looking bloke, wouldn't be surprised if that's the reason

20 hours ago, Flagdees said:

Laurie hate is overused

20 hours ago, Flagdees said:

Laurie hate is overused

Nobody hates him, he is just not quite up to the level required IMO!

2 hours ago, stinga said:

If the side is as selected and Lindsay plays up the ground, then over then next weeks I think Rivers will come back into the side as the spare half back, however he then has to overcome AMW. With a Casey bye there's no opportunity to compare them.

Tholstrup is the only other obvious one in the team to rest the other HBF's. Seems a bit out of balance to me.

Yep very very unusual for the ULTRA Professional Smithies VFL to have Byes so early in the season, just very very very surprised that a well run outfit has done this, I am actually shocked oh hang on we have another bye when??? then a 6.30 am fixture on a Monday morning, a Home game as a gather round fixture at West Pymble recreation reserve, then a night fixture at Slthera Park at 11.15 pm due to draining of the lake hoping to find The Loch Ness monster, then shock horror another bye followed by, followed by, followed by et al, rinse, repeat .. yep yep, totally profesional in every way!

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by picket fence

4 hours ago, demoncat said:

Rivers got dropped because he hasn’t been very good to start the year - it really is that simple

And while a few others have also started poorly (Sparrow and Lever come to mind) I think it’s Rivers’ lack of defensive intent that has seen him dropped first

Can’t be missing tackles and not contributing to scoring chains

Yup

7 minutes ago, JTR said:

Yup

Sharp and L Pickett having 0 tackles as small/medium forwards is less than ideal. Throw in Fritsch (0), JvR (0) and Chandler (1) that ball is coming out with ease.

2 minutes ago, Nascent said:

Sharp and L Pickett having 0 tackles as small/medium forwards is less than ideal. Throw in Fritsch (0), JvR (0) and Chandler (1) that ball is coming out with ease.

Yeah, I haven’t got confirmation of this yet because we are young and dumb but I don’t think we are heavily leaning into the forward ‘gegenpress’ so tackles and pressure may not be where we get turnovers - more interceptions across the defensive side of wing and HB. When I was watching against StK it was looking like we were trying to invite short kicks from the opposition and then static long kicks.

Then the forwards ‘snap back’ from def side of wing with space in front.

But I will be down for the GC game so get a better look then.

Seriously, when did you last leave a game thinking gee rivers really dominated today? Cannot think of 1.

Even koltyns managed to find a spot

23 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

Even koltyns managed to find a spot

For the moment. Longer term he'll need to be able to do more than just play as a tagger.

Not knocking him either, and there's obviously something about being a tagger that really suits the kind of player/person he is.