DEMONS defender Jared Rivers has never been as excited about running out for the reserves as he is about Saturday's VFL practice match against the Casey Scorpions.

The 23-year-old, who had last season ruined by the onset of serious osteitis pubis, will play his first game since round six last year – and he can't help but feel a little jumpy about the prospect of returning to the field.  

"It's not quite the same as my first game, but I'm a little bit nervous like that after having the operation and getting back again," Rivers told melbournefc.com.au.

"It's good to finally get out there, after starting my pre-season and off-season early and finally actually playing footy rather than running around an oval.

"It's been quite a big couple of years for me so I'm a bit nervous, but I'm excited at the same time.

"Hopefully I can get through it all and get a bit of the ball as well."

He won't be alone in his first game back from a lengthy lay-off. Clint Bartram, Matthew Whelan and Paul Wheatley will also return, after battling knee, hamstring, foot, calf and shoulder problems between them in season 2007.

"They're all crucial players for the Melbourne footy club so hopefully we can all get a kick out there." Rivers said.

"It's good that we're all getting back out there together, so we can try to help each other out as much as we can.

"It's been a long pre-season for all of us, so finally getting out there and getting a kick is going to be a lot of fun."

Rivers had to overcome surgery, recovery and the frustration of not being able to even kick a ball throughout the better part of last year.

Then, to top it all off, he had to try to recapture even the most basic of football movements once he was given the all-clear from his specialists.

"My skills weren't great [when I first started training]," he recalled.

"It was just great to be back though, after watching so much footy last year. I finished up so early last year, and then I didn't really kick a footy at all.

"I tried to get back later in the year but couldn't, so I hadn't kicked it for the large part of a year.

"My skills didn't deteriorate, but it was mainly about getting the power back in my legs and groin to kick that extra distance."

The 2004 NAB AFL Rising Star first noticed his groin soreness was becoming a persisting ache in the pre-season last year, but wasn't completely hampered by it until round six. 

"I had a bit of pain a couple of years ago when it all started, but I didn't think much of it," he said.

"I had it in the pre-season and then I played the Port Adelaide game last year and I felt it in my groin and up around my belly button, and I'd never felt pain like that before in my life.

"I could hardly walk at half-time and after the game I could hardly move."

However, even in hindsight, Rivers considers it difficult to tell if an earlier diagnosis would have had him back on the park earlier than this.

"That's the frustrating thing; it's been around for so many years now and there's not really one thing that fixes it," he said.

"Different guys have different ways of trying to deal with it, and the best way is to just take your time with it and try to get what works for you right.

"That's the hardest thing, because there's all these people out there that try to tell you what to do, and it's more what you feel and what you think is right. You've just got to deal with that."

Rivers will play half a game this weekend, and hopes to back up with another Sandringham performance the following week. Then, with all things coming to plan, he has his sights on round one.

"I'm rapt, because I've been waiting for a while now and I feel like I've been pulling up really well after training," he said.

"If I pull up well after the game and the coaching staff thinks I'm looking all right, I'd like to put my hand up for round one.

"So, all things going right and depending on how I pull up after each hit-out, I might get a run.