The new position will ensure all future recruiting decisions are closely aligned to the club's coaching style and philosophy.
In 2012, a major part of Viney's role will be as the club's recruiting manager, meaning he will decide which players Melbourne chooses at this year's AFL National Draft.
"Todd will be calling the shots at this year's draft," said chief executive officer, Cameron Schwab. "We are putting one of our most senior and capable people in charge of recruiting."
However, the club will look to employ a full-time recruiting manager to eventually take on that responsibility, a role Barry Prendergast played until January this year when he joined Carlton. The person appointed to that role is expected to take on the job in 2013 and will report to Viney.
Viney's job is broad, reflecting the growing focus of clubs on their recruiting structure as free agency starts - a change that promises to cause the biggest shift in the way players enter and leave clubs since the national draft began in 1986.
The position also demonstrates the club's desire to strengthen the connection between coaching and recruiting departments even further, particularly necessary after the appointment of new coach Mark Neeld.
"This role relates to getting some fundamentals right, which is making sure we recruit players who are of a type and a capability that can fit within the game style the coach wants," Schwab said.
The club has recognised it is vital the football and recruiting areas share a mutual understanding of where the game is headed, what is required, and the type of player suitable to fulfill specific roles on the playing list.
"I will have a really clear understanding of how the coaches see the current game being played and how the current list of players are executing their roles within the game-plan," Viney said.
To that end Viney will sit in match-committee, selection and coaching-review meetings throughout the year, as well as continuing the search for talent.
Viney says the new role is a natural progression to the development role he took on when he first arrived at the club.
"It is about trying to bring together all those different components of the modern day club," said Viney, "which is how the game is being played, where is it going, what are the roles within it.
"You evaluate your list according to that: where are the strengths, where are the weaknesses?"
Viney appears a perfect fit for the role.
He played 233 games for Melbourne, including 64 as captain before he retired at the end of 1999.
He has worked as an assistant coach (including being assistant coach at Hawthorn when that club won the 2008 premiership), a development coach, a player agent, and coached Moama at country level.
He has also watched his son Jack - who committed to the Demons' list in 2013 under the father-son rule last year - move through the elite junior pathway.
He even played football alongside Neil Craig at Sturt in the mid-1980s.
"He's obviously got a strong appreciation of all things coaching," Schwab said.
"He has got great acumen to bring to recruiting and most recruiting managers are coming from coaching area now. We feel really confident as a club to have Todd in the loungeroom of potential young players for the Melbourne Football Club, saying here is what Melbourne offers you and this is what the club represents."
Melbourne already has Tim Harrington as list manager looking after player contracts and list management issues such as negotiating trades.
Kelly O'Donnell is in the new position of Pro Scouting, which examines players on AFL lists and leagues just below the AFL. Gary Burleigh continues his focus on the elite junior player pathway.
Viney intends to strengthen and develop the network that sits below those full-time positions but will not be rushed into making decisions about the make-up of that network.
"We've got good people working within the organisation and we're just trying to envisage where it is all heading," he said. "They have done a really good job over a period of time now."
Although Viney's appointment is the final major appointment in a pre-season at the Demons defined by change, Schwab said they will not let the dust settle.
"We've created a momentum and we're keen to maintain it," he said.
