MELBOURNE coach Mark Neeld has defended starting co-captains Jack Grimes and Jack Trengove on the bench in Saturday's loss to Geelong.

Neeld has come under fire for the call, with Sydney Swans premiership coach Paul Roos saying on Monday that he was "speechless" at the decision to leave Trengove and Grimes off the ground for the first bounce.

But the first-year coach, who was an assistant at Collingwood before taking on the Demons' job, said he was comfortable with his starting line-up.

"My point of view is that we had 134 rotations and one of them would have been there for 90 seconds and the other would have been there for two minutes," Neeld told SEN on Tuesday.

"I'm coming out of the Collingwood system where every week it's about combinations in the midfield. 'Swanny' (Dane Swan) starts on the bench, or 'Pendles' (Scott Pendlebury), or 'Daisy' (Dale Thomas) or Sharrod Wellingham."

Neeld said the symbolic nature of the call to leave both captains off the ground at the start of the game had been overplayed.

"Ten years ago, when there was 40 rotations in a game of footy, if you were benched you might have been there for a period of time…that's a symbol," Neeld said.

"When there's 134 rotations and the average time spent on the bench is about 90 seconds…I think there's not much in that."

Meanwhile, although the Demons have already committed to taking Jack Viney at this year's NAB AFL Draft under the father-son rule, Neeld said it would require some discussion at season's end.

Melbourne could be forced to use its first pick in the draft to select Viney if another club makes a bid for him under the rules. Neeld said the club would review its options closer to the NAB AFL Draft.  

"Jack no doubt is a very good player," he said.

"If we've got pick No.3 and Jack is rated in the top three, then that is an easy one. If we've got pick No.3 and Jack is rated in the top 10, then we'll need to have a discussion about that.

"I'm learning very quickly that there is absolutely no guarantees in this industry."

Callum Twomey is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter at @AFL_CalTwomey.