St Kilda defender Sean Dempster is looking forward to showing new coach Scott Watters what he is capable of when the Saints begin their NAB Cup campaign against Sydney and Geelong on Friday night.
Watters replaced Ross Lyon at the end of last season after Lyon shocked the football world by quitting the Saints to join Fremantle.
The former Collingwood assistant immediately instilled a 'fresh slate' approach and Dempster is keen to impress his new coach in the club's first competitive hit-out.
"Having the new coach come in and a fresh slate has really invigorated everyone to a certain extent. We've also got new fitness staff so we've had a whole new training program and everyone is really excited and can't wait to get into it," he said on Thursday afternoon.
"(With a) new coach, you always want to put your hand up and play well. This year is probably a bit more than normal with having a new coach - he's told everyone that spots are up for grabs so everyone will be wanting to perform and do well and show the coach what we've got to offer."
"Everyone is in that same boat as me and wants to put their hand up and we're probably just lucky that we don't have that many injuries at the moment and everyone's willing and able to compete this weekend."
Dempster could find himself in a new role in defence with the off-season departure of full-back Zac Dawson.
Former Eagle Beau Wilkes has joined the club and looks set to fill the void, but Dempster could still find himself playing on some of the bigger bodies due to his height.
"I think the opportunity is there we don't really have one big player to play that role so we've got a spread of blokes all around the 190cm mark," he said.
"I think it'll be a bit of responsibility on everyone's shoulders to at some stage be able to play against the big key forwards."
St Kilda will have basically a full complement of players for the two matches with first-team regulars James Gwilt (knee) and Raph Clarke (calf) the only injured players, although Watters has chosen to rest star midfielders Leigh Montagna and Nick Dal Santo.
"It's just a load thing, it's something that the coaching staff and fitness staff have to weigh up," Dempster said.
"How many games people play and what sort of minutes and it's all based around getting the best possible result for that player come Round 1. It's nothing really more than that."
Friday night will also mark the return of Lenny Hayes, who hasn't played since injuring his knee in Round 2 of the season proper last year.
"He's like a young kid again, been out for a year. He's come back really well, he's rehab has been faultless and he's been training full on since Christmas so he can't wait to get out there and we can't wait to play with him again," Dempster said of Hayes.