THE Port Macquarie Magpies have a lot to play for this weekend.
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The game against Sawtell Tormina is last year's grand final replay and there will be the unfurling of the premiership flags, it will be the Paul Sheldon memorial match and the mayor, Peter Besseling will make an appearance for reserve grade.
Coach of the first grade side Scott Abercrombie said his players had a lot to contend with on game day.
"With everything that's going on, you can't just say forget about it all, it's just another game because it's not," he said.
"There is a lot on the line but you can't get too caught up in it.
"There's a bit of a fine line with it all, if you try and separate the players from it, it can be counter productive, we need to be able to embrace what's going on and become a part of it without getting too carried away."
The Magpies will also be looking to bounce back after the disappointing effort last week when they lost the opening match to Grafton Tigers.
But Abercrombie said he wasn't going to read too much into that result, instead he is more interested in how this weekend goes.
"We were short on for players last week, it was a matter of getting players on the park and being competitive," he said.
"This week is different, we should have close enough to a full strength side and we should be able to gauge how well the pre season has been for us and work out if anything needs tinkering with."
Abercrombie said one of the major changes this year will be the positional change of James Cullen.
Previously a defender, Abercrombie said Cullen will be moved forward.
"James is one of our core group of players that turns up week in, week out and always gives his best," he said.
"This year he'll have a different role.
"I want to release him up front, he can take a mark, kick a goal and he's agile."