Keidean Coleman will play his first game of the season against the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.

The classy defender missed the Lions’ 88-point practice match win against Adelaide at Metricon Stadium on Friday due to the AFL’s health protocols.

Coleman was a revelation throughout the 2021 finals after a late season switch to the back six and after a pre-season training with the defence, Lions fans will be excited to what he can add to the side coming off half back. 

He joins defender Jack Payne and versatile big man Tom Fullarton as new faces in the 26-man squad.

Draftee Darcy Wilmot and Jaxon Prior come out of the side which will be captained by Harris Andrews.

Andrews said the pain of the Lions’ 1 point loss to the Bulldogs at the Gabba in last year’s semi-final had not eased over a long hot pre-season.

And although a win would go some way to easing the disappointment, greater motivation would be taken from the ability to test the Lions’ preparation for a premiership campaign against one of the sides tipped to once again be competing for a Grand Final berth.    

“It’s super important to really challenge yourself this time of year,’’ he said.

“We want to test what we’ve worked on against quality opposition and get feedback on that before the start of the season.

“The Dogs are obviously a quality football team, so we want to put the things we’ve been working on over the summer into practice and we’ll be treating it like a real game.”

He said the players were also excited at the opportunity to be back in front of the Club’s Melbourne supporter base. 

“They’ve been starved of football a bit and we haven’t been able to come down as much as we would’ve liked but hopefully there’ll be lots of fans out there tomorrow, we can’t wait,” he said.