Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes president Rick Collins has been left thrilled with the success of their Good Friday season-opener against Wagga Tigers.
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The concept debuted in 2023 with great success and Collins believed that the turnout on Friday night actually exceeded the crowd from 12 months ago.
"We're very happy," Collins said.
"We had a massive crowd, it'd be up on last years crowd and everyone was in good spirits.
"It was a lovely warm day, probably a bit warm for football with everyone cramping up in the end.
"But it's certainly worth the amount of work and effort that it takes for the footy club, it's very much worthwhile."
The Goannas had no shortage of volunteers across their various stations at the ground and Collins believed it was fantastic to have so many people put their hand up to take on a role.
"Yeah it is," he said.
"This year's been amazing with the support throughout the club from parents, family and friends.
"We haven't had to ask anyone, everyone has volunteered and stepped forward and just asked where they can help.
"You can't ask for anything more as president of the football club, it's what you want to see one big family and that's what we are trying to be."
Collins said there was a solid amount of people at the ground from the very first game of the day which saw the B and C grade netball teams take to the court at 2pm.
"Yeah it was great throughout the whole day," he said.
"We worked it a lot better this year than last year as we obviously finished last year in the pouring rain.
"I think it was great conditions for football really, it was a hard football game and at the end we saw it was certainly taking it out of the players.
"But I don't think anyone can walk away thinking they haven't seen a great day of football."
The Goannas grabbed a 26-point win to open their season and Collins thought it was the perfect way for their new-look senior squad to start their campaign.
"Yeah it's a great way to start," he said.
"We've got a very young playing group but they are very tight with each other and that's a great way to start the year."
Goannas coach Nelson Foley also made comment on the day's proceedings throwing his support behind the long-term future of the feature game.
"It's a great day of footy," he said.
"People turned out in their droves and it was a great atmosphere to be a part of as a player.
"It's just a great initiative from the club and we can't wait to keep doing it for years to come."
The Goannas clean swept the three football grades with their reserves winning 8.17 (65) to 2.4 (16) while their under 17.5's had a massive opening-game win.
They started their premiership defence with a 25.20 (170) to 0.1 (1) win over the Tigers.