The Milton Ulladulla Football Club's defence of its premiership title will start on Saturday against a traditional tough opponent.
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The Panthers dominated last year's Shoalhaven Football Association's first-grade competition - highlighted by its 2-1 win in the grand final against Illaroo.
Panthers coach Nick Palagyi would have told his players that last year is now history and they have to focus on season 2024.
Coach Palagyi said Saturday's match against St Georges Basin was a perfect way for his team to start the season.
"Playing Basin at their home ground [the St Georges Basin Sporting Complex] is always a great atmosphere and they're one of the strongest and most consistent clubs in our region, having qualified to play finals in four of the past five seasons," Palagyi said.
"They [Basin] have a squad packed with quality and some great young talent. So I expect it to be a really tough encounter and we know we'll need to be at our absolute best.
"These are the sorts of matches we look forward to the most and we can't wait to get the season underway."
"The players are all hungry and very keen to get underway now though, so we're looking forward to finally getting underway against Basin on Saturday," Coach Palagyi said.
The Panthers mentor said there was no need to pick up the intensity at training this week.
"We'll put more of a specific focus on how we'll approach this particular match now, but we won't be looking to increase the intensity," he said.
"We've been working hard over the last 12 weeks already and the players are in great shape and ready to go.
"To be honest there are times when we need to ask the players to decrease intensity, and with the eagerness to get the season started now, that may well be the situation this week."
No decision, team selection-wise, will be formalised until tomorrow night [Thursday] at training.
The club has several young players, new players and returning players within the group this season who have all been working hard and settling in well.
"One thing for sure though, all of the players are making selections very difficult this year and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in the squad in action this weekend regardless of which playing group they're ultimately selected in this week," the coach said.
Coach Palagyi is confident that it won't take long for his players to kick into gear on Saturday.
"We've varied the playing group in every pre-season match and as a squad we've been progressing steadily regardless of who's actually on the pitch at any point in time," he said.
"So with that foundation I expect us to be well organised and sharp on Saturday, but as we get into competition mode and start playing more regularly, I also expect us to get a lot stronger and more clinical in each subsequent match.
"We've still got a lot of improvement left in us."
In other matches Culburra plays Sussex, United meets Husky and Illaroo plays host to Shoalhaven Heads.
