Bias aside, I've had a high opinion of Rivers for a long time and was ecstatic when suggestions were forwarded about our interest. He'll fit in nicely playing on the 3rd best forward and will be an asset down back for the club.
The difference is that Geelong is not a capital city. I recently spent a week in Adelaide and found it to be much like Geelong (although with much more suburban sprawl) in terms of population density in the CBD, lack of genuine skyscrapers, traffic and demeanor of the locals. In contrast I went to Sydney for a few days after that and felt swallowed up - despite the closing gap between Melbourne and Sydney's overall populations, Sydney feels much bigger with the whole "we built stuff on top of stuff" vibe, the way nobody gives a s**t about who you are or what you look like... And of course the double-decker trains that run more closely to schedule. I must admit even Melbourne felt backwards to me after that.
I agree and my sister is a Melbourne supporter and she was shattered to see him go. He was her fav player, she rated him extremely high, and she also has great knowledge of the game.
And the reverse is also true.
