ALL-Australian Michael Hibberd says he’s already relishing the opportunity to play down back with boom recruit Jake Lever.

Hibberd said it was “super” to line-up next to Lever, when they played together in Melbourne’s 53-point win over North Melbourne at Kingston Twin Ovals on Saturday.

“He’s had a really good pre-season and fitted in really well,” he said.

“He’s a true leader and he’s going to make us a much better footy team, and down back he gives a lot of the players’ confidence.

“I love playing with him already.”

Hibberd also praised another new Demon, Bayley Fritsch, “a polished performer with the ability to take good grabs”.

And he said he could already visualise the youngster becoming a regular part of the Melbourne side in 2018.

“It wouldn’t surprise if he played most of the year, because he performed really well today and he looks like a dangerous forward to play on,” he said.

Overall, Hibberd said there was plenty to like about his side’s first performance, even if there was room for improvement.

“It was a really good win. We performed quite solidly. It was good to crash into opponents. I thought the whole team contributed, but we’ve still got a few things we can work on. I think we implemented what we wanted to from the pre-season,” he said.

“In our first hit-out, I thought we were pretty clean and good in the contest. Our forwards were really good and we gave them some opportunities and they made the most of them. And the backline, I felt like we worked really well as a group.

“It’s good to have a run around against another team. We’ve still got a few weeks until round one, so we’ll build on that.”

Hibberd, who had a game-high 27 disposals, also spoke highly of the ground’s surface, given it was bucketing with rain before the game.

“It was in ripping nick. It didn’t seem like there was a blade of grass out of place,” he said.

“It was raining a lot before the game, but the gods looked down on us and the sun came out and it was a good day for footy.”