Week one of Mark Riley's AFL coaching career began with a culture shock.

In the lead-up to Sunday's game against Carlton, the caretaker Melbourne coach had to expand his usual role of looking after the Demons' forward line - 12 players in total - to managing 44 players, three assistant coaches and fitness staff, on top of assuming the role as the club's public face.

Then game day itself began with an out-of-character early rise, a lift in the stress rate and a late finish.

"I woke at 5am and that's an early rise for me, I don't mind my sleep in the mornings," Riley said after the Demons beat the Blues 19.10 (124) to 14.17 (101).

"I did play a few scenarios over in my head, but it's done and dusted, the first one, now."

Riley, who was appointed to oversee the Demons' second half of the season once Neale Daniher quit after round 12 and stood down after round 13, said the mechanics of coaching were largely the same across all football competitions.

But while he enjoyed the experience, he admitted it was not an entirely smooth afternoon.

"You like to think you'll stay calm for 120 minutes but that just doesn't happen," he said.

"We're going to make some mistakes and that's the legacy of being born human, but we live with those mistakes and move on."

Although he has the lead on other potential candidates for the Melbourne senior job in 2008, Riley adopted a caretaker role in the post-match scenes by deliberately staying off the ground to keep the focus on the players.

"That's for the players, the glory, that's not for me," he said.

"They did the business so they can get the accolades from the crowd, and they should do too. It was a wonderful effort by a very young team."

Despite a successful start, Riley had no plans for a large celebration.

He left the MCG planning to have a glass of wine with his wife before settling in to review his side's performance on replay ahead of next weekend's game against the Brisbane Lions.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP