WA product Trent Rivers happy to float between midfield and defence in Steven King’s new-look Melbourne side

WA’s Trent Rivers believes he will still spend plenty of time in his customary position at half-back as Melbourne enter a new era, despite being floated as a candidate for more opportunity in the midfield. After the Demons traded star pair Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver over the off-season, Rivers — who was introduced to the middle in spurts last season — shaped as a candidate to become one of new coach Steven King’s primary on-ballers. The East Fremantle product attended just under half of his side’s centre ball-ups in their upset win over St Kilda in round one, but was in the middle for just three in their follow-up 48-point loss to Fremantle. Rivers told The West Australian he had no issues with his role changing both within the course of games and on a week-to-week basis. “I’ll still float between half-back and midfield, whatever the team needs,” Rivers said. “Daniel Turner went down tonight and I played a bit more down back, but there’s going to be times when I play more in the midfield as well. “I’m loving my footy at the moment and loving playing under Kingy . . . Kingy’s really come in and made it his footy club and everyone’s buying into it.” Rivers said incoming veteran Jack Steele — who finished with a team-high 31 disposals, nine clearances and nine tackles against the Dockers in his second game since joining from the Saints — had filled the midfield mentorship void superbly. “He’s an absolute trooper. He’s really been able to bring a young midfield together really quickly,” he said. “He’s slotted in amazingly. He’s got a wealth of experience that he’s passing on to all of us.” Another player set to receive more on-ball looks alongside Rivers at the Demons is former West Coast mid-season draft pick Jai Culley. Rivers said he was “really looking forward to seeing what Jai can do” with consistent opportunities at the top level. “We’ve seen what he’s been able to do all pre-season and now you’re starting to see glimpses of it out on the big stage,” Rivers said. “He’s just going to keep building confidence each and every time he plays.” The Demons quickly crashed back to reality against the Dockers after their stunning win over the Saints, heading for quarter-time adrift by 42 points after surrendering seven early goals. Rivers, one of only 12 players to remain from their side which won the 2021 premiership at Optus Stadium, said inconsistent showings would come with the territory for a side who have shed several of their more experienced performers. “Freo are a great team and you’ve got to pay respect to them, I don’t think we did that in the first half,” he said. “We’ll go away, look at the vision and learn going into Carlton.”