Zero Hanger

Melbourne confirm trio of coaching changes, appoint VFL c...

New Demons head coach Steven King has dramatically altered his coaching staff.

7 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Why does the X post say three new additions but the Instagram post says four (with McLennan)?

Because Melbourne comms!

But also because they announced the Casey coach via the Casey account

12 minutes ago, Demonland said:

MELBOURNE has added to its AFL coaching panel, welcoming three new names for the 2026 season.

Jared Rivers, Rory Atkins and Matthew Scarlett will all join Steven King’s coaching mix and don the red and blue next year.

A name familiar to Dees fans, Rivers returns to the club he called home for 10 seasons to take on an assistant coaching role, tasked with looking after the backline and team defence.

Rivers’ coaching CV includes five seasons at Collingwood between 2015 and 2019, three seasons at Collegians Football Club in the VAFA A Grade competition, and most recently, a stint at St Kilda.

Rivers played 150 games in the red and blue jumper – he totalled 194 AFL matches, having joined Geelong after his time at Melbourne – and was inducted as a Life Member of the club in 2015.

Melbourne GM of AFL Football Performance Alan Richardson said the club was thrilled to bring a favourite son home.

“It’s really exciting to welcome Jared back to the club in an assistant coaching capacity,” Richardson said.

“He has an incredibly strong understanding of the game and significant experience, having held coaching positions at the Pies, in the VAFA and with the Saints.

“We are excited by what Jared can add to our program, and look forward to welcoming him, his partner Sophie and their children Chloe, Charlotte and Isabella to the club.”

Atkins joins the Demons as a development coach, following a 13-year playing career.

The 31-year-old, who called time at season’s end having represented Port Adelaide, Gold Coast and Adelaide throughout his journey, will work closely with new Head of Development Taylor Whitford in helping the club’s youth thrive.

“We’re looking forward to having Rory on board as part of our development team,” Richardson said.

“We think he will have an immediate impact, having only recently retired from the game, and provide some unique insights for our younger players.

“We’re excited to welcome Rory, his partner Georgia and their daughter Daisy to the red and blue.”

Scarlett is set to bring experience aplenty, with Melbourne adding the former Cat as a specialist coach in a part-time capacity.

The Geelong legend, who achieved the ultimate success on three occasions, will work with the Demons’ talls in honing their craft.

“We’re really excited to have someone of Scarlo’s calibre with us, to work with our talls,” Richardson said.

“Scarlo featured at the top level for 15 seasons, and for our players to be able to learn from him and have his assistance is pretty special.

“We look forward to Scarlo getting to work, and welcoming his partner Milla and children Tayla, Charlie, Oliver and Henry to the Dees.”

The trio will combine with Troy Chaplin and Nathan Jones, who continue in their respective roles of looking after the forwards and midfield, as well as part-time ruck specialist coach Mark Jamar.

Rhett McLennan, newly appointed senior coach of the Casey Demons, will further assist in the development space of the AFL program, while Riley Bonner and Dylan Roberton will continue their support of the VFL program.

Combat and grappling coach Max Viney, too, will return for the 2026 season.

Melbourne’s AFL pre-season is set to commence in November.

Teague and Hawkins still a chance?

I like the new changes. Fresh voices & new ideas is what we need.

I think Scarlett will be great for Daniel turner & even petty & tommy

Happy with Rivers and Scarlett. One's an experienced assistant coach and the other was one of the best defenders of all time.

Atkins was the butt of all jokes for Port Adelaide supporters when he came to them as steak knives in the Houston trade. Haven't seen too many more disrespected players by a fan base than he.

Edited 7 hours ago7 hr by Bring-Back-Powell

Looks like we have really bolstering our development coaching ranks. Hopefully this allows us to better develop our full list of players.

Still hoping we get someone else to do the midfield coaching alongside Jones

Without Clarry and probably Trac, we will have a very young midfield who will need an experienced coach to guide them. Jones is one year into coaching. And the first year was not inspiring

8 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Happy with Rivers and Scarlett. One's an experienced assistant coach and the other was one of the best defenders of all time.

Atkins was the butt of all jokes for Port Adelaide supporters when he came to them as steak knives in the Houston trade. Haven't seen too many more disrespected players by a fan base than he.

One day you are going to surprise and say something positive without adding any negatives.

by the way...I'm pretty sure the Port fan base aren't the greatest judges of coaching talent.

6 minutes ago, Very Jaded said:

Still hoping we get someone else to do the midfield coaching alongside Jones

Without Clarry and probably Trac, we will have a very young midfield who will need an experienced coach to guide them. Jones is one year into coaching. And the first year was not inspiring

Very much so. This is where the prospect of someone like Teague becomes interesting.

Love Towball but don't have sufficient faith in him to run the mids on his own

Im telling you all.. the Rory Atkins appointment is part of operation get Ben King/Matt Rowell alongside Kingy.

All great appointments btw 👏

Fresh voices and experience, exciting times ahead.

3 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Im telling you all.. the Rory Atkins appointment is part of operation get Ben King/Matt Rowell alongside Kingy.

Part of that operation would also have to be a big on field improvement and climb up the ladder in a relatively short amount of time. Familiarity only takes you so far.

Let's hope they can contribute and have an immediate impact in their own way

A bit of a question mark on Riv but hopefully just a preconceived illogical anxiety on my part. Wouldn't be the first time 😄

Feels like a genuine renewal underway now. If we can just land some significant talent in exchange for Trac and Claz, ...

We were feeling a bit anxious about our coaching team two days ago and now we have been inundated with great news, with possibly still more to come. Will sleep well now as will Steven King, a lot to look forward to. However the Tracc and Claz deals are dragging the chain and limiting our recruitment options, probably both go down to the wire.

1 hour ago, rjay said:

One day you are going to surprise and say something positive without adding any negatives

Brenton Sanderson on Trade Radio was raving about Scarlett’s appointment.

I like this quote In reference to the Scarlett era at Geelong.

“Geelong trained harder than most clubs played games.”

I dare say he’ll demand high training standards.

2 hours ago, BScotti said:

Teague and Hawkins still a chance?

Would love to get Hawkins. Been hanging for that since he retired

X GOODWIN, Williams, Radford, Bassett

✅KING, Rivers, Scarlett, Atkins

Promoted: Whitford

? Hawkins, ? Hamill

Staying: Jones, Chaplin

---

Casey coach : Rhett McLennan

Casey Demons, assts coaches - Riley Bonner and Dylan Roberton

21 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Brenton Sanderson on Trade Radio was raving about Scarlett’s appointment.

I like this quote In reference to the Scarlett era at Geelong.

“Geelong trained harder than most clubs played games.”

I dare say he’ll demand high training standards.

Good man...it wasn't that hard after all.

I don’t think training hard has been the problem, nor desire for contest, I’m open to these being good appointments but as much as I dearly would have loved them as players at the club (Hamill was at one stage my favorite non Melbourne player), I don’t see any great coaching credentials. Very happy Troy is staying, but what I really want is to see a strategy coach of Jennings standard to join us/ another mid coach.

11 hours ago, Dee Boys said:

Wasn't cut out to be a senior coach, but by all reports he's one of the absolute best ball movement coaches in the game. Would be a great get and this link fills me with much more optimism than the one to Aaron Hamill.

There were rumours we were after Teague at the end of 2024 too.

4 hours ago, Very Jaded said:

Still hoping we get someone else to do the midfield coaching alongside Jones

Without Clarry and probably Trac, we will have a very young midfield who will need an experienced coach to guide them. Jones is one year into coaching. And the first year was not inspiring

Perhaps Teague could come as midfield and ball movement coach...