More than 200 games, 400 goals and 13 years later, he's coaching the Northern Bombers against Lauderdale in UTAS Stadium's upcoming AFL curtain-raiser.

The league's two Bombers sides will meet at 11am on Sunday before the AFL game between Hawthorn and Brisbane starts at 3.20pm.

"It was a little bit different [when I debuted], we played very close to the AFL game so there was quite a big crowd and it was really good," Cox-Goodyer said.

"It will be interesting to see the crowd that gets in here to watch our game but the guys are really excited [either way].

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"The TVs will be here, all the camera crews, Fox Sports and that sort of stuff so it will be great for them to play, hopefully in front of a big crowd."

No-one from Cox-Goodyer's side will have the full debutant experience in a rare week without a Bombers first-gamer, with Charlie Skipper making way for Jacob Kerr in their sole change.

However, with such a young group on the park, the excitement is high.

"Most of them are quite young so they see a big occasion and little things about how the ground looks and things like that, they are very excited," he said.

"Even though we might be kicking the dew off which might be new to a few boys, it's exciting.

"They've obviously got a big team down here in Brisbane who are flying at the moment, so there will be some big interest in the AFL game and hopefully some interest in our game too."

The last curtain-raiser, held on Anzac Day in 2009, saw both home sides emerge victorious as North Launceston defeated South Launceston by 15 points before Hawthorn defeated West Coast under lights by 18 in front of 17,880 people.

Cox-Goodyer admitted there are restrictions around the game 13 years in the making, with his side not allowed on the ground until an hour before the game, having to leave the changerooms early and not being able to use the coaches' boxes.

However, it's still something he would like to see happen again.

"I think Hawthorn were pretty keen to make it happen and build a bit of a relationship with the league which is really good," he said.

"They worked really hard to make it happen, so hopefully it's something we can do more of in the future."

North Launceston won their early-season clash with Lauderdale by two points in a match Cox-Goodyer described as "one of the best games I've played in".

Seven rounds later and the Southern Bombers have knocked off the reigning premiers, with both teams looking "strong on paper".

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"They obviously got the good win against Launceston and were in some good form and had a poor showing against Kingborough on the scoreboard," Cox-Goodyer said.

"But they won some key areas around the stoppages and inside-50s so they were in the game, Kingborough were just pretty efficient when they went forward too.

"They'll probably want to get one back on us too because they probably felt like they should've won that game down there last time so it should be a cracking contest I would've thought."

Lauderdale only made one change as well, with Oscar Shaw coming in for Bodhi Kingston, and will be looking for the likes of their experienced leaders Bryce Walsh, Josh McGuinness, Allen Christensen, Sam Siggins and Hadyn Smith to get them across the line.

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