JACK Trengove says former Crow and recruit Aidan Riley will add “grunt” to Melbourne’s midfield.

Trengove and Riley played at Sturt in the SANFL, before starting their AFL careers, with the former co-captain endorsing Melbourne’s recent recruiting of midfield talent.

“At the end of last season, the whole coaching group and club identified that the midfield was a weak point for us at the moment,” he said at AAMI Park on Wednesday.

“We’ve gone away and recruited Bernie Vince, Daniel Cross, Dom Tyson, Viv Michie and now Aidan Riley, so he can really add to the strength and contested ball.

“When I was back in South Australia, I watched him (Riley) a bit, because he played for Sturt as well, and he definitely does bring a bit of grunt around the place as well, which will be great for us.”

Trengove said he wasn’t aware that Riley, who was claimed as a delisted free agent on Monday after 12 matches with Adelaide from 2011-13, had been targeted by the Demons.

Meanwhile, Trengove said new coach Paul Roos had been “awesome” in his first week and a half since most of the players had returned for pre-season. 

“He brings that awe of confidence about him. He’s got the runs on the board to bring that,” he said.

“Everything he says, the boys are just hanging off, at the moment.

“It’s going to be great when the rest of the group comes back on Monday, so we can really get stuck into the real nitty gritty stuff.”

Trengove said the players were delighted to have Roos at the helm, with a fresh start critical to reigniting the club.

“Everyone feels a bit better and more up and about, because of the man that he is,” he said.  

“He’s not just going to click his finger and we’re suddenly going to become superstars of the game – it’s going to take a lot of hard work.

“He set some standards out on the track already and what he sees as what we need to get to, so it’s about the boys living up to those expectations from now on.”

But Trengove was adamant that it was still up to the players – and not Roos – to make sure Melbourne started its climb up the ladder in 2014.

“Sure Roosy’s got a great CV and he’s got all the runs on the board, but in the end, it comes down to the players and how they approach it and adapt to his playing style,” he said.

“He’s not just going to come in and change everything, because we’ve still got around about the same playing group together.

“We’ve got to take a lot of responsibility on ourselves to get stuck into what Roosy wants us to do and make sure we’re doing it from day one.”