KYNETON coach Mark Adamson says a win over long-time nemesis Gisborne would be the perfect kickstart to the Tigers’ Bendigo Football League season on Friday.
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The Tigers will clash with their Macedon Ranges’ rivals at Gisborne’s Gardiner Reserve - a ground Kyneton hasn’t won at since round 15, 2001 - as part of the BFL’s Good Friday start to 2015.
"It's a massive local rivalry between the two clubs," Adamson said on Wednesday.
"We think we've had a good build-up to the season and we'll go in with a team we believe is capable of performing well.
"Coming from a position down the ladder like we are, it's important to gain some confidence early, and the best way to gain that confidence is by winning games of footy.
"While the rivalry is important, the most important thing to us is for our season to get a win early, and we get that opportunity on Friday."
The Tigers were forced to play catch-up last season after they didn't win their first game until round four.
"It was too long for us to get that first win, so we want to do something about that this year," Adamson said.
Adamson expects the Tigers to field close to a full-strength side for the battle with the Bulldogs.
Among the new faces in the Kyneton side will be brothers Alik and Rhys Magin - who both have AFL experience - forward Mitchell Scholard and key position player Joel Morrison.
"We'll be fairly close to as strong as we can expect," Adamson said.
"We've maintained a lot of our players and could have as many as six new players in the side, so with a little bit of turnover, that always takes time to gel, but we've been working hard to make sure that happens as quick as we can. We'll have no excuses - we'll be ready to perform."
The Tigers - at $8 in Sportsbet's BFL flag market - were beaten in a practice match by Riddell District league club Macedon last weekend.
"There were some things we weren't happy with last week and it was a timely reminder that if you don't do all the things that we know work, the game can change fairly quickly," Adamson said.
"So I'm not too unhappy with that message being reinforced to the players going into round one."
Friday's clash between Gisborne and Kyneton at Gardiner Reserve kicks off at 2.20pm.
