It only counts for four premiership points, just like every other home-and-away fixture, but ask any AFL player …. there’s something extra special about playing in Round 1.

Every year the confidence built up through a long, hard summer brings a unique anticipation ahead of the season-opener.

The hope, the dreams and the excitement.

Any doubts, ask Lions pair Daniel Rich or Mitch Robinson. They are Round 1 specialists.

The pair will celebrate a special moment in football history on Saturday night as the Lions open the 2019 AFL campaign against West Coast at the Gabba.

Rich will do what no other Brisbane player has done in 38 years. If Rich is named in the Round 1 team, he will play his 11th consecutive Round 1 game for the Club since debut.

The thumping 28-year-old left-footer, drafted at Pick No. 7 in the 2008 National Draft, was 294 days beyond his 18^th birthday when he had 21 possessions on debut in a Round 1 loss to West Coast at the Gabba on Saturday 28 March 2009.

It was the  start of a season which ended with Rich winning the AFL Rising Star Award.

The West Australian junior is the only player from the Lions’ 2009 playing list still with the Club as he prepares, ironically, to face West Coast at the Gabba in Round 1 2019.

Robinson, too, has never watched his club play a Round 1 game, and will notch his 11^th consecutive career season-opener on Saturday night.

Drafted by Carlton at Pick No. 4 in the same 2008 National Draft as Rich, the ever-combative Tasmanian was one year less two days older than Rich when he debuted two days earlier in the Blues’ 83-point Thursday night thumping of Richmond.

He had 13 disposals and kicked three goals.

Robinson played Round 1 every year for Carlton from 2009-14, and hasn’t missed a season-opener since joining Brisbane in 2015.

Luke Hodge, set to begin his second season in Brisbane colors and the 18^th season of his career, is also no stranger to Round 1 games.

He played 10 in 16 years at Hawthorn and will make it two from two for the Lions on Saturday night.

Rich’s 11th Round 1 appearance will see him jump to equal eighth on the Club's all-time list of season-openers, headed by Simon Black with 14.

Black opened the season in the AFL side seven years in a row from debut in 1998, missed the first game of 2005 due to a suspension incurred in the 2004 grand final, and then played another seven Round 1 games straight from 2006-12.

He missed the first six games of his final season in 2013 due to injury.

Michael Voss, Marcus Ashcroft, Shaun Hart,, Nigel Lappin and Darryl White each played 13 Round 1 games for the club, followed by Justin Leppitsch (12), Jonathan Brown and Luke Power (11), Jed Adcock, Daniel Bradshaw, Ash McGrath, Dan Merrett and Rich (10).

Ashcroft has the longest consecutive streak of Round 1 games, playing 13 in a row from the start of his third season in 1991, while Hart went 12 in a row from his fourth season in 1992, Lappin 11 in a row from his second season in 1995, and White 10 in a row from his fifth season in 1996.

Amazingly, the 11-year Rich/Robinson Round 1 streak is not even close to the current League best.

Eddie Betts, former Carlton now Adelaide player, debuted in Round 1 2005 and this weekend will play his 15^th consecutive Round 1 game.

Bryce Gibbs, another Carlton player who defected to Adelaide, has played every Round 1 fixture since his debut in Round 1 2006. Carlton’s Marc Murphy, too, has played every Round 1 game since 2006. Likewise, Geelong’s Joel Selwood from 2007, and Adelaide’s David Mackay from 2008.

North Melbourne defender Scott Thompson has played every Round 1 game since his debut in Round 1 2008 but will miss this weekend due to suspension.

Port Adelaide’s Paddy Ryder has played every Round 1 game since his Round 1 debut in 2006 except for 2016, when he was suspended as part of the Essendon drug scandal.

Geelong’s Gary Ablett will play his 17^th Round 1 game this weekend. He debuted in Round 1 2002 and has played the first game of his year every year except 2004, when he missed the first two games through injury and played two Reserves games on his return.

The Lions’ next most experienced Round 1 player behind Rich and Robinson is Ryan Lester with seven.

He debuted in 2011 and has missed only in 2013.

Stefan Martin and Ryan Bastinac, with five and two Round 1 games for Brisbane respectively, also have seven Round 1 career games including time with Melbourne and North Melbourne respectively.

Dayne Zorko and Lewis Taylor each have played five Round 1 games for the Lions, and Allen Christensen five career Round 1 games, including two with Geelong.

Dan McStay (4) is next on the Lions list ahead of Harris Andrews and Darcy Gardiner (3), and Charlie Cameron, who played two Round 1 games with Adelaide before beginning his Brisbane career in Round 1 last year.

Among the Lions players in contention for their first Round 1 opening against the Eagles on Saturday night are Zac Bailey, Rhys Mathieson, Oscar McInerney, Archie Smith and Cedric Cox.

Mathieson’s likely first inclusion for Saturday night will knock him off the top of the list of Lions players who have played most games without a Round 1 appearance.

Mathieson (37) leads this list from Brett Voss (35), James Hawksley (32), Peter Worsfold (31) Albert Proud (29), Marcus Picken (25), Ray Windsor (23), Lachlan Sim (21) and Steve McLuckie (20).

Jason Millar stands alone as the only Brisbane player to play his only game for the club in Round 1. He debuted in Round 1 in 1991 only to be badly injured in a car accident the same evening.

Ross Lyon, originally a Fitzroy player and now the Fremantle coach, is a two-game Brisbane player who debuted for the club in Round 1 1995. He also played in Round 2 before knee injuries ended his career.

The other two-gamer in this category was Troy Johnson. He played Rounds 1-2 1996 but ran into off-field problems and despite being drafted by Fremantle after being de-listed by Brisbane he never played again.

Others to have played fewer than 10 games including a Round 1 game for Brisbane have been Stefan Carey (3), Jaden McGrath (3), Colin Alexander (5), Martin McKinnon (7), Kevin Caton (8), David Ogg (9), Rod Owen (9) and Billy Longer (9).

Thirty-five Brisbane players have made their AFL debut playing in Round 1.

In chronological order, they have been Matthew Campbell, Neil Hein, Mark Mickan (1987), Michael Kennedy (1988), David Bain, Martin Leslie (1989), Shaun Hart, Brad Rowe (1990), Richard Champion, Troy Clarke, Jason Millar (1991), John Hutton, Nigel Palfreyman, Darryl White (1992), Nathan Buckley, Nathan Chapman, Matthew Clarke, Justin Leppitsch (1993), Chris Scott (1994), Craig McRae (1995), Danny Dickfos, Troy Johnson (1996), Simon Black (1998), Craig Bolton (2000), Troy Selwood (2005), Mitch Clark, Scott Harding (2006), Daniel Rich (2009), Todd Banfield (2010), Clay Beams, Rowan Bewick, Ryan Lester (2011), James Aish, Michael Close, Lewis Taylor (2014),  Jaden McGrath (2015), Josh Schache (2016), Cam Rayner (2018).

Note: In 1991 the Brisbane Bears had a Round 1 bye. So, in this case, Round 2 is considered the Club's first game of the year. Likewise with Gold Coast in 2011.