Tom Cole threw out his right hand, clasped that of young teammate Noah Long and drew the emerging small forward towards him.

He threw the other arm around the rookie’s shoulders and wished him luck.

To the uninformed, there was little discernible difference in determining the debutant. Long could not hide a beaming smile, his signature since arriving at the club in late November. The moustachioed Cole had his game face on; focused, intense.

It was in the changerooms at Marvel Stadium minutes before the players headed out for the first bounce against North Melbourne.

A little earlier the loved ones of Long, Reuben Ginbey, Campbell Chesser and experienced defender Jayden Hunt were gathered a few metres away, celebrating their imminent first games in blue and gold.

Each was presented with their match guernsey by a senior member of the team. There was time for a photographic keepsake and then on to the final preparations.  

It’s a long time since Cole debuted. Round 10, 2016 actually. And he was a part of the team that tasted premiership glory in 2018.

Having been there and done that does not guarantee an exemption from nerves. Especially after an 18-month absence. He was on edge.

So were midfielder Dom Sheed and key forward Oscar Allen. There may not have been outward signs of the butterflies buzzing around in their stomachs, but intuitively you knew they were there.

Cole did not play a single minute in 2022 after an ankle injury at training in the weeks leading into the start of the season and Allen was in and out of a moon boot with a foot ailment that sidelined him for the year.

Sheed played only game after getting his ankle caught underneath a tackler in an ill-fated practice game against Fremantle.

While all of them excelled in pre-season training this summer and felt ready, there was a sense of apprehension. Naturally they were all a little rusty on return. At times they showed why they were so desperately missed in the trainwreck that was 2022. At others they made some uncharacteristic errors.

In racing parlance, another sporting pursuit involving thoroughbred athletes, they will be better for the run.

In the days after a disappointing five-point loss to North, they could take some solace from the fact that they had a game under the belts.

They would rarely have felt better about carrying the aches and pains that come with elite footy. The practice games were a little dress rehearsal, but nothing compares to the physicality of playing for premiership points.

That trio – and several others – will doubtless have a more pronounced impact on games as the season unfolds. The muscle memory will return, actions that were second nature before their enforced hiatus will again became what they were.

The hesitation, the apprehension will disappear.

So it will be for others like Elliot Yeo and Nic Naitanui when they get a run at it.

And for Chesser who had played precious little football in three years before his debut. He was injured as a bottom age player in the under 18s competition, his senior year was ruined by COVID and then he became another victim of the carnage that was the practice game against the Dockers last March.

It will be great to again see them at their best.