MELBOURNE defender Jared Rivers has defended teammate Aaron Davey, saying he is capable of playing top-quality football sooner rather than later.

Davey has had an inconsistent season so far and was particularly underwhelming in Saturday's loss to St Kilda, where had just nine disposals.
 
Coach Dean Bailey refused to rule out dropping Davey to the VFL when he spoke to the media after the St Kilda match but Rivers backed him in to return to his best.

"He's a proud person and he is probably not happy with how it's going at the moment. He is a very important player to the playing group. He is a vice-captain and we all love the ball to be in his hands," Rivers said on Monday.

"We've got to stick by him, we know he can play some great footy for us and hopefully things can turn around quickly for him. He's a good mate of mine and I'm looking forward to seeing him get out there on Friday night and show what he can do."

Rivers said he was also looking forward to taking the field with another close friend, Brock McLean, who is in line to play his first game against his former club since leaving Melbourne for Carlton at the end of 2009.

McLean managed just six senior matches last year and played his first of the season in last week's narrow loss to Geelong.

Rivers said while McLean's former teammates held no grudge against him for choosing to leave, they were looking forward to lining up against him on Friday night.

"I'm still good mates with him and catch up with him like a few of the boys do. It was good to see him get a run last week and hopefully he's out there on Friday night so we can have a bit of a run at each other and see how he's going," he said.

The Demons will be looking to get back on the winners list after losses to the Saints and North Melbourne in the past two weeks.

Rivers said he was looking forward to the Demons' first exposure under the Friday night lights in 2011.

"Friday night everyone is going to be watching and we've got a great opportunity against Carlton who are a top four team and to really take it up to them," he said.

"If we can keep up the intensity we played with on Saturday for four quarters, we can take it up to them."

Luke Holmesby covers St Kilda news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_LHolmesby.