Former Kangaroo Flat star Jonathan Lanyon will make a cameo appearance with Maiden Gully YCW to open the Loddon Valley Football Netball League season this Saturday.
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A BFNL inter-league representative and best and fairest winner with the Roos, Lanyon now lives in Darwin and won the NTFL division one league best and fairest this summer while playing for Banks.
The inside midfielder is back in central Victoria on holidays over Easter and MGYCW coach Wanye Mitrvoic jumped at the opportunity to play Lanyon against Newbridge in the season-opener on Saturday.
"Jono was keen to have a kick while he's back in town and it will probably only be a one-off at this stage,'' Mitrovic, who tried to recruit Lanyon to the Eagles in previous years, said.
"Jono mightn't live in Darwin forever and, if he comes back this way, I see him as the perfect fit for a club like ours that's trying to develop into a Bendigo league club.
"The professionalism and work ethic he would bring would be ideal.
"We have an opportunity to bring him in the door for this week to see what our club and the league is like and for us to build a relationship with him.
"It's only one game at this stage, but you never know what could happen down the track."
Read more: LVFNL club-by-club season preview
Mitrovic said the decision to play Lanyon had been cleared by the club's leadership group.
"I spoke to the leadership group about it and they were happy to have a player of Jono's calibre come on board,'' Mitrovic said.
"We have six players unavailable this weekend because of a wedding, so it's not a case of a senior player missing out on a game to fit Jono in."
Mitrovic said the Eagles could blood up to six current or 2019 under-18-listed players in the opening round.
"We'll have an average age of about 23.5 this year which is pretty young,'' Mitrovic said.
"With our best team we'll be pretty fast. We've got three or four players that are lightning quick.
"We're looking forward to the year...it's shaping as a really good competition this year.
"I don't think there'll be much between the top four or five teams."
In other round one LVFNL games this Saturday, reigning premier Mitiamo hosts Bears Lagoon-Serpentine, the new-look Marong is at home to Calivil United and Inglewood travels to Pyramid Hill.
Flag favourite Bridgewater has the bye.
Read more: Catch up on all the latest local footy news
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