IN A historic first for Opening Round, St Kilda will host Collingwood at the MCG on Sunday night in the first ever Victorian game to be played in the round.

The Saints will be one of the teams to watch this year, whichever way it goes, after the club took a punt to revamp its list, splashing the cash to recruit multiple seasoned players. 

SAINTS v MAGPIES Follow it LIVE

The Saints have added mature bodies to a promising young core of players but still have a huge leap to make to reach the finals after only two of their nine wins last year came against teams that finished above their 12th place.

Collingwood continues to move closer to a cliff edge as its experienced but inevitably ageing side mounts yet another campaign with a premiership in mind.

The Magpies lack the star power of the other contenders while still having most of the stalwarts that have led them to success in the past, but will begin their season undermanned in defence with Darcy Moore and Jeremy Howe ruled out.

However, they do regain a host of stars who were missing from last week's AAMI Community Series, including Nick Daicos, Steele Sidebottom, Jordan De Goey, Jamie Elliott and Scott Pendlebury.

As expected, the Saints will roll out their prized recruits, with Tom De Koning, Jack Silvagni, Liam Ryan and Sam Flanders to make their club debuts.

St Kilda v Collingwood at the MCG, 7.20pm AEDT
NO LATE CHANGES