Final trials

[fatsculler]

I was talking to someone about this yesterday and they were saying maybe it's just the case that there are too many 'top boat' guys for a 4-? Last year's 4- looked great, Louloudis and Reed were far too close to winning trials off 3 days' together to rule either of them out, and Langridge and Foad got as close to Bond/Murray as anyone has this olympiad (only backed up by Langridge's impressive 1x result at trials). And it's not like Ransley/Satch/Bennett/Tarrant haven't done a good job in the 8+.

If you have a top 4- you risk having half of those guys pissed off about your selection decision, if it's as close as it looks like. Maybe Jurgen wants to postpone the ire for as long as possible.

Possibly....that's why we might see a big 8 this season, but I'm 99% convinced the 4- will be the priority for Rio.

[jyjy]

It's all very interesting and a bit confusing.
I don't buy this 'he's got too many top-boat rowers' or 'he's afraid of upsetting people'. Only if he's going soft in his old age!!
The normal Jurgen-like thing would be to prioritise the 4- for Rio. In which case you'd do the same in 2015.
If he really is putting out a top 8, then I think that can only mean he is seriously thinking about targeting the 8 in Rio.
Maybe that's the case if he's thinking this is his final Olympiad and he wants to go out in a blaze of glory with the Blue Riband event.
Which is a mouth-watering prospect with USA, Russia, Canada, Germany, Poland all likely make the 8 their no1 boat. And I've not even thought about AUS & NZL.
That makes the 4- an interesting prospect for 9-12 or 11-14 athletes. (I think what a previous poster were referring to as 'flotsam')

[fatsculler]

It's all very interesting and a bit confusing.
I don't buy this 'he's got too many top-boat rowers' or 'he's afraid of upsetting people'. Only if he's going soft in his old age!!
The normal Jurgen-like thing would be to prioritise the 4- for Rio. In which case you'd do the same in 2015.
If he really is putting out a top 8, then I think that can only mean he is seriously thinking about targeting the 8 in Rio.
Maybe that's the case if he's thinking this is his final Olympiad and he wants to go out in a blaze of glory with the Blue Riband event.
Which is a mouth-watering prospect with USA, Russia, Canada, Germany, Poland all likely make the 8 their no1 boat. And I've not even thought about AUS & NZL.
That makes the 4- an interesting prospect for 9-12 or 11-14 athletes. (I think what a previous poster were referring to as 'flotsam')

The other thing that's occurred to me is that he's thinking about Olympic qualification. The 4 only needs a top 11 spot to qualify direct whereas the 8 is top 5...he maybe looking to stack the 8 to guarantee qualification.

[TPrower]

It's all very interesting and a bit confusing.
I don't buy this 'he's got too many top-boat rowers' or 'he's afraid of upsetting people'. Only if he's going soft in his old age!!
The normal Jurgen-like thing would be to prioritise the 4- for Rio. In which case you'd do the same in 2015.
If he really is putting out a top 8, then I think that can only mean he is seriously thinking about targeting the 8 in Rio.
Maybe that's the case if he's thinking this is his final Olympiad and he wants to go out in a blaze of glory with the Blue Riband event.
Which is a mouth-watering prospect with USA, Russia, Canada, Germany, Poland all likely make the 8 their no1 boat. And I've not even thought about AUS & NZL.
That makes the 4- an interesting prospect for 9-12 or 11-14 athletes. (I think what a previous poster were referring to as 'flotsam')

USA, Australia, and Canada are prioritizing the four over the eight, while NZ and France have prioritized the pair (obviously).

Germany, Poland, Russia have all prioritized the eight.

I think if GB prioritized the 8, they would have a solid shot for gold in that event, and silver/bronze in the pair. I do not see them medaling in the four without their top tier rowers.