MIDFIELD coach Ben Mathews has praised the efforts of Aidan Riley to come back into the side last week and impress with 14 contested possessions and seven tackles.
Riley, who played his fourth match for Melbourne against Geelong at the MCG last Saturday, after playing 12 games for Adelaide from 2012-13, was one of the red and blue’s best last round. It was his best effort yet for the club, after he came as a delisted free agent from the Crows at the end of last season.
But having broken his right leg against West Coast in round 15 last year, Riley did not return to football until the round three equivalent in the VFL this year.
He then made his Melbourne debut in its win over Richmond at the MCG in round nine. Riley was out the next week, but returned for rounds 13 and 14, before bouncing back last weekend.
Although Mathews said Melbourne’s midfield was still a work in progress, he praised the performance of Riley, who had 14 contested possessions and seven tackles last round, upon his return.
“It was a credit to him after a bit of a stop-start journey this year. He’s had the injury early in the year and he’s been in and out of the side a little bit, so for him to come in and impact was really good for his confidence,” he told Dee TV.
“It was good for us to know that we can swing him through the midfield and he impacts.”
Mathews said Jack Viney was “hard-at-it as always” last round and Dom Tyson was “still progressing”. He added that senior players Bernie Vince and Nathan Jones were holding their own performance each week.
Meanwhile, Mathews said the players could take plenty from their win at Adelaide Oval against the Crows earlier in the year into this round against the Power.
He added that Melbourne’s competitive effort against the Power in the Northern Territory in round 11 – when the Demons fell short by 20 points – would also hold it in good stead.
“Absolutely, the players will certainly. They’ve gone to Adelaide Oval and had a really good win against the Crows, so that’ll be in the back of their minds,” he said.
“But understand they’ve got Port Adelaide, who are coming off a couple of tough losses themselves and will really want to bounce back.
“It’s going to be a tough journey – they’ve had good form over there as well, throughout the season, and we’ve come off a win over there. So hopefully that builds a bit of confidence.
“We played really well against Port Adelaide in Alice Springs and we didn’t get the bikkies, but that should give the boys some confidence also.”
Mathews said the loss of Port Adelaide defenders Jackson Trengove and Alipate Carlile had hurt its structure, but warned the Power was still a dangerous team.
“They’re still a quality side and they work really, really hard.”
“I don’t know what their training program is like, but they might be in the middle of a heavy training phase, gearing up for finals – you just don’t know what clubs are doing with their program.
“We’re expecting – while they’ll have a couple out [through injury] – to be really pressing it and wanting to get back on the winners’ list.”
But Mathews said the Demons had learned plenty in the past two rounds, heading into the Power clash.
“For us, we’ve come up against two really tough teams – finals hardened teams in Freo and the Cats in the last fortnight – and we’ve found out a little bit about ourselves, which is a good thing. It’s a good, honest assessment of where we’re at,” he said.
“We need to improve and we need to play better in bigger moments and in contested situations, against the big boys, so it’s a great challenge for us to come up against another top five side and hopefully bounce back from the last two weeks.
“We feel we’ve let ourselves down a fair bit in a fair few areas and we know we’re better than that. We showed we’re better than that throughout the course of the season and I certainly know the boys will bounce back.”
