Welcome to Star Track Oval Canberra for the first match of the 2013 AFL season here in the nation's capital between the GIANTS and St Kilda.
 
Today the GIANTS bring up another first with the first ever AFL match for premiership points under lights here in Canberra. It should be a memorable afternoon and evening.
 
This match also celebrates the centenary of this wonderful city and to mark the occasion today the GIANTS will wear a special jumper which as well as our traditional orange and charcoal will have a splash of Canberra centenary gold. So look out for it – it will be a collectors’ item.
 
On behalf of the GIANTS can I welcome St Kilda here to Star Track Oval Canberra and in particular president Greg Westaway and his wife Helen, directors Danni Roche and Peter Summers and also CEO Michael Nettlefold.
 
It's great to have a Melbourne club with the profile, tradition and following of the Saints and I am sure they will be a formidable opponent today.
 
As always, I want to thank ACT Sports Minister Andrew Barr and the ACT Government for its wonderful support of the game here in Canberra and also acknowledge his federal counterpart, Sports and Multicultural Minister Senator Kate Lundy.
 
I also want acknowledge some of our ambassadors including David Daly from the European Union and the US Ambasador Jeffrey Bleich who recently became the first member of the Global GIANTS, our international members group and has become a passionate AFL fan
 
As always I also want to thank our corporate partners led by Skoda and Lifebroker and also welcome Star Track, a subsidiary of Australia Post, to the GIANTS family.
 
We are delighted Star Track has taken the naming rights here at this iconic venue for the duration of the next two AFL seasons and hopefully a long time to come after that.
 
It is a tremendous endorsement of not just this stadium but elite sport in Canberra and will help secure the GIANTS' future here.
 
We consider Canberra to be home and we couldn't be happier with how we have been embraced by the people here and we want to continue to deliver back to the community.
 
On behalf of the GIANTS I want to thank Star Track, represented here today by  Richard Umbers for your support of the GIANTS and look forward to a long and successful partnership.
 
We hope to have a great crowd here tonight and there is always a lot of anticipation here in Canberra ahead of the first match of the season. It's great to see many of our supporters here including our number ticket holder Mel Doyle and her family and we look forward to hearing from Mel later on.
 
While the GIANTS are yet to bring up a win so far this season, our young side has at times played some extremely exciting football and shown they will be very competitive in 2013.
 
Hopefully today we can crack it for a win. I'm sure it will be a tough match and we look forward to seeing everyone again here at Star Track Oval Canberra in two weeks from now when we play Gold Coast.
 
Enjoy the game and Go GIANTS