No one at the Brisbane Lions would know the St Kilda Football Club better than Matt Maguire.

Maguire spent eight seasons at Moorabbin from 2002-2009 - lining up alongside Nick Riewoldt, Stephen Milne, Lenny Hayes, Justin Koschitzke and co. in most of his 99 senior games with the Saints.

He shared with them a great deal of team success - despite never claiming that elusive Premiership - and featured in two AFL Preliminary Finals (2004 and 2005).

Maguire was ultimately delisted by St Kilda at the end of 2009 after injuries limited him to just four senior matches in his final two seasons with the club.

The Lions resurrected his career via the 2009 AFL National Draft, using their final selection (Pick No.91 overall) to secure the powerful defenders' services.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Almost three years have passed since that time, and only now - after fast-tracking his recovery from an elbow injury - will Maguire finally get his chance to match up against his former team-mates.

“I’ve actually never played against them since moving to Brisbane,” Maguire said on Friday.

“Last year I missed the game with a quad strain, and the year before I think I was out with that foot injury.”

“I made sure I did whatever I could to get back for this Saturday night.”

Maguire’s inclusion provides a huge boost for the Lions’ defensive stocks who can expect to have their hands full against the high-scoring Saints.

“I’ve obviously matched up plenty of times of Riewoldt and Kozi at training, but it should be a different experience in a match,” he said.

“They’re quality players and will need a fair bit of attention.”

“They have a very potent forward line, and it’s not just the big blokes. It’s just as important that we shut down the little fellas like Stephen Milne who only needs a sniff to hurt you on the scoreboard.”

“I’ve still got a lot of good friends at St Kilda and there were certainly no hard feelings when I left. I needed a new start and found that up here in Brisbane. That said, I’m definitely a Lion now, and will be handing out no favours to my old mates come Saturday.”

Even though there will be some familiar faces among the opposition this Saturday night, Maguire says he won’t be able to offer his coaches any more information than they probably already know.

“Unfortunately it’s been three years so there are no real secrets I can pass on to the guys,” Maguire said.

“Plus, St Kilda are a completely new outfit this year under Scott Watters - they are a far more attacking than they’ve probably been in previous seasons.”