Opening night at Kings Park Reserve has evolved into the showpiece event on the Western Region Football League’s regular season calendar.
St Albans has driven the concept for the past three years with first-class facilities, bustling crowds and an electric atmosphere.
And with Deer Park the visiting club last year, the concept was given an added boost.
The Lions will be first-night visitors again this Friday, and will bring an exhilarating mix of local rivalry, a reigning premiers tag and must-see former AFL stars.
PICTURE GALLERY REWIND: Deer Park 2013 premiers
Their recruiting spree during the summer, including the arrivals of Brent Guerra, Ryan Hargrave and Bret Thornton, has created a love-’em-or-hate-’em impulse, a
talking point that should drive the biggest crowd in Saints’ opening-night history.
Saints coach Marcus Barclay is excited at the prospect of facing the Lions at full strength, knowing it will attract more fans to the game, present the ultimate challenge for his players and allow them to experience an atmosphere that can’t be replicated in a run-of-the-mill Saturday afternoon game.
“The Friday night game is a real positive for us,” Barclay told the Weekly.
“It’s been a while since the club has played in a grand final or won a premiership, I think it was 2001, so at the stage we’re at, this is as close as it gets to a big finals game.
“The fact that it is Deer Park .with all the talk about them, we think it’s going to be a pretty big night.”
The Saints broke through for a finals appearance last season with a squad that had good quality veterans and up-and-coming youngsters but few in the middle years.
“We had real experienced players, 26 and above, and good kids, 18, 19 and 20, but a gap we needed to bridge,” Barclay said.
The Saints went some way to filling the void by recruiting bigger-bodied footballers to help the younger players in the physical battles.
The Stephens brothers – Sam and James – will help in this department. They’re well known across the west as premiership players at Albion and can play a number of roles.
“They both have a really good work ethic,” Barclay said.
Gordon Hillsdon, a virtually unknown half forward/onballer from EDFL second-tier side Glenroy, may be in the round one starting line-up after an outstanding preseason.
Chris Raftopoulos, recruited from Keilor, is another with a hard edge, while former VFL player Dion Lawson adds class to the midfield.
“It’s not a big number of recruits, but they’re all big-bodied, really strong players who have a presence on the field,” Barclay said.
“We think that’s what sort of cost us in the elimination final against Altona, the young guys weren’t [physically] ready.”
The first bounce is at 7.45pm.
