Adelaide’s SANFL coach Michael Godden says his team is hungry to return to competitive football on Friday after Covid forced them out of last year’s state league.

The Crows face South Adelaide in their season opener at Flinders University Stadium on Good Friday and Godden said the team was excited about the challenge.

“I think not being able to play last year was really tough on a lot of our younger players so the opportunity to involve themselves in such a great competition like the SANFL is great for them but also great for our Club to be back involved,” Godden said.

“The guys are really hungry to play, one because it’s been so long, but secondly against another opposition because we played against Port Adelaide (in organised practice games) last year and at Alberton most of the time.

“So for a lot of these guys it will be their first league game and they get to play at another ground so we are all very excited about that.”

Godden said it was difficult to predict where his team sat in the league’s pecking order but would know more within the first month.

“The competition looks really strong and there are a number of clubs who have recruited really well,” he said.

“A lot of our guys haven’t played league footy at all, we could have up to 10 debutants this weekend at league level, so it’s hard to make a prediction on how we’re going to go but I know our guys are desperate to compete and hungry to win.”

The Crows, who will be led by captain Matthew Wright who has returned to the Club as a development coach, will face former Adelaide teammate Bryce Gibbs who is now at the Panthers in Round One.

“South Adelaide is a team on the rise, they’ve recruited well and are at their home ground which is tough to play at, it’s going to be a great challenge because it will be pretty warm on a big open space so it’s going to require a high workrate,” Godden said.

The match kicks off 1.10pm.