The new joint vice-captain said playing on the big stage, rather than the NAB Challenge regional circuit, will only benefit Melbourne.
“Playing in Melbourne is definitely a great opportunity and good for our supporters to come out and watch us play,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“We need to play in front of those bigger crowds as a young group.
“We’re excited by the Thursday night match and hopefully we can get a lot of our supporters coming out - that’s the plan.”
Rivers said the win over Adelaide and Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on February 11 was another tick in the club’s reemergence.
“We hadn’t won over there for 10 years and to win that as a group - it was a massive challenge. To come through with a young group will definitely give us a lot of confidence coming into the season,” he said.
“To play in the second round of the NAB Cup is exciting - we haven’t played in many finals in the last few years and even though it’s the NAB Cup, we’re pretty pumped to be playing one of our rivals in Essendon.
“We’re really looking forward to it.”
