Accomplished forward John Buchanan admits he has plenty of nerves ahead of his return to Robertson Oval on Saturday.
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Buchanan will return to Robertson Oval to face Wagga Tigers for the first time since departing the club at the end of 2017.
Buchanan injured his knee in his first game for Ovens and Murray League club Albury Tigers last year, and then returned to the Riverina League but signed at Collingullie-Glenfield Park to play under best mate Luke Gestier.
Not only will Buchanan return to take on Tigers for the first time, but it coincides with his 10-year under 17 premiership reunion.
Buchanan, a Tigers junior and premiership player, is unsure what to expect on Saturday.
"I'm nervous, there's definitely a few nerves there but I'm nervous before every game," Buchanan said.
"I could downplay it but it's a big game. It's a big game for us and a big game for them.
"I'm pretty nervous, I'l admit it...and it's actually funny because we've got our 17s reunion on Saturday so I'll probably cop a bit extra."
Buchanan said he is enjoying his time at Crossroads Oval this season.
"I'm loving it obviously," he said.
"It's a really good country footy club. There are so many people involved, it's everything I expected from it. They've got a good following, I've met a lot of people in the last six weeks as the footy's started, a lot of old heads and they've all been very welcoming. It's a really good family friendly club."
Buchanan has kicked 15 goals from his first four games in a strong start to the year.
He said he is feeling 100 per cent in his return from a knee reconstruction.
"I'm feeling really good. I got stood on against Leeton three weeks ago, on my bad knee, and it really hurt, probably more than doing my ACL," he said.
"It was just bruising but it was reassuring more than anything.
"It's good having Gep there as well. He takes that good defender, and we've usually got a resting mid that takes another good defender so we work in together so they can't dominate one bloke and hopefully someone gets off the chain.
"It's not working out too bad."
The Demons will be out to bounce back from last week's shock three-point loss to Narrandera against a Tigers team, that has won four from their first five games.
"I'm reasonably confident but we'd want to bounce back and we'd want to be pretty fired up after last week," he said.
"They're on their home ground and that's where they play their best footy so they'll be tough. They play a fast running game on the big ground so we're going to have to work hard to stop them from playing their game."
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