Both clubs, situated on the Avon River, used to play in the disbanded Riviera Football League, and competed in the North Gippsland competition until Stratford made the shift east in 2012.

The Swans won the East Gippsland league grand final last year, while Boisdale-Briagolong managed just one senior win in the North Gippsland league. President Mark Landy said playing its new league’s reigning premier in the first round would help the Bombers gauge where they sat in the competition. He said Boisdale-Briagolong, to be coached by Matt Lee, was back to a similar playing field to when it was in the Riviera league. “(North Gippsland) seems to be getting stronger and stronger and we’re only a very small town. We always seem to have enough players, it’s just you’ve got to be able to get enough good ones,” Landy said.

Stratford premiership coach Peter Morrison said he expected Boisdale-Briagolong to move leagues a few years ago when Stratford made the shift.

He expected a huge crowd to watch Saturday’s match, which would feature a similar Swans squad to the one that won the flag. “What theme the players want to have, whether it’s ‘back-to-back’ or ‘start again’, is entirely up to them,” Morrison said. “We’ll discuss that this week.”