PLENTY has changed at the Dees since Jared Rivers last walked through the Melbourne doors.

Rivers, who played 150 games in the red and blue, departed the Dees in 2012 and 13 years on, has now returned to the club as an AFL assistant coach.  

He joins a coaching group that is full of fresh faces, as Melbourne’s AFL program enters a new era.

The former Demon returns to the club alongside four additions – Steven King (senior coach), Rory Atkins (development coach), Matthew Scarlett (specialist coach) and Rhett McLennan (VFL coach).

“It's been a really exciting few weeks,” Rivers said.

“It’s good to be back. There are a few people I remember, so it’s good to get to work with people that I'm used to and it’s also exciting to see some fresh faces.

“Out of the existing players, I’ve only played with [Gawn] and [McDonald] and they’re going well.

“I’m showing my age a little bit, but it's great to see [McDonald] in particular, I think he said it’s his 16^th pre-season, so he's had such a great career, and it's great to be back working with him.”

Following the end of his playing career in 2015, Rivers took the coaching path almost immediately, eager to remain a part of the football world.

He spent time at Collingwood, North Melbourne and was most recently at St Kilda, before landing back where his AFL journey first started.

“It was a tough decision…but the opportunity to come here with Kingy, a fresh coach and getting to work with him for the next few years, that was exciting to me,” Rivers said.

“That role opened up and it was pretty much a no-brainer for me to come back and have a fresh start for the whole club and a fresh look as a new coaching group as well.

“There’s a challenge that lies ahead, but I think the whole coaching group and the players are all excited about the future.”

Although it’s still early days within the new era for the program, Rivers is eager to work alongside his coaching counterparts, with collaboration the focus for the new senior coach, King. 

“Kingy is all about trying to work together as a whole coaching group, not just in your section, so to speak," Rivers said. 

“Collaborating together as a coaching group really excites us and I’m learning things from Chappy, Jonesy, Kingy and Taylor in the development space.

“We’re on this journey together and we want to be a part of it together, that's only going to make us feel better as a coaching group and hopefully we can apply that to the playing group.”

Rivers will be heading up the side’s backline, a group of players with a mix of talented youth and experienced seniors.

“We've got such great experience in the backline with the likes of May and Lever and then you've got the young guys coming through like Jed [Adams] and Howes,” Rivers said.   

“All these young guys coming through, they're excited about the opportunity to play more consistent.

Having kept a close eye on the Dees since departing, Rivers is excited by the opportunity of growth within the backline.

Melbourne’s defensive game has been integral to the team in recent years, but Rivers is hoping to hone in on the efficiency of the system. 

“Overall, it's been a strong defensive system for a while now, it's just trying to compliment each other and being a little bit more efficient with that defensive system as well," Rivers said. 

“We're going to take a bit of time to work on those things through preseason and then into the practice games.”