For a Saturday afternoon in early June it doesn't get much bigger for Sandhurst.
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On home turf, against an old foe Golden Square, top three ramifications and the added incentive of a major milestone for club great Matt "Bear" Thornton.
The premiership centre half-forward will play his 200th game for the Dragons and Connick expects his side to lift for the occasion.
"You can be wary of having too much focus on one particular player,'' Connick said.
"You have to find that right balance. It's an achievement worthy of real praise and appreciation, but you don't want to go over the top.
"You'd like to think players bring the same level of effort every week. I think you use a little bit of the motiovation that comes with these games - the want to reward a guy that deserves a great performance.
"We'll focus on what we need to do as well as honouring a guy like Matt who deserves to have a fuss made about him."
Thornton has made a big impression on Connick in his short time at the club.
"There's not too many players around like Matt,'' the first-year coach said.
"He found a club, stuck with the club, decided very early on that he was a Sandhurst player for life and he's been a top-line player for 12 or so seasons.
"He's quietly spoken, a relly modest guy and he can seriously play.
"If clubs are lucky enough to have players like Matt then they're on the right track.
"Hopefully, he can have a really big one for his 200th."
The Dragons go into Saturday's game as underdogs.
They are only one place behind Square on the ladder, but the Bulldogs have the stronger recent form.
Sandhurst hasn't beaten a top-five side, with its four wins coming against the bottom four teams on the ladder.
Square made everyone stand up and take notice when it edged out reigning premier Eaglehawk at Wade Street last Saturday.
"I had a good look at the Square game last week and it was a really good game of footy,'' Connick said.
"You can see that Square is building its form and they probably had their best team in for the season last week.
"They have quality players all over the ground. We've got a job ahead of us, but we think we're up to it.
"We've been building some form ourselves and I'm sure we'll be up for the challenge."
The Dragons had some long-awaited good news at the selection table, with Nick Stagg, Zac Pallpratt and Oscar Perez returning from injury.
Classy duo Andy Collins and Lachy Ross are probably still a couple of weeks away, while key forward Will Holt has a long-term shoulder injury.
"It's nice to have Nick Stagg and Zac Pallpratt back in because they were probably in the top five of our best and fairest after the first few rounds,'' Connick said.
"Oscar Perez has had a bad run with injuries, so it's nice to have him in the side."
Golden Square regained veteran midfielder Brad Eaton from injury and promoted Harry Bynon at the expense of Tam Walters and Justin Cooper.
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