It was the home ground where he guided the Canberra Raiders to their first premiership, but former coach Tim Sheens will put business ahead of nostalgia when he attends Saturday's Seiffert Oval trial match against Newcastle.
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The Australian coach has fond memories of the Queanbeyan venue, the Raiders' home base for their first eight years before moving to Canberra Stadium after the 1989 premiership.
But with both teams selecting strong sides for their final hit-out before the season proper, Sheens will monitor players he feels could help Australia exact revenge over New Zealand in May for their Four Nationals final loss.
Raiders back-rower Josh Papalii played in the decider at Wellington, as did Knights young gun Sione Mata'utia, who will start in the centres against the Raiders.
There is normally little at stake in trial games but for fringe representative players like Jarrod Croker, David Shillington and Paul Vaughan, it is a chance to give the Kangaroos coach food for thought early in the season.
"It's business for me, I'm not going to be reminiscing too much when I'm at the ground," Sheens said.
"I planned to catch a couple of trials, which I've been doing, and there's some good players turning out for Ricky [Stuart, Raiders coach] and also Newcastle.
"David Shillington was unlucky, he was unavailable for [Four Nations] selection [through injury] and with others unavailable, it was an ideal chance for him.
"Young Croker's been going well, he's played strongly in the All Stars game and is one of the kids on the cusp.
"Edrick Lee has a lot of potential if he puts together a couple of solid seasons. There's lot of good things happening.
"I'm going to enjoy the game and look at it. The fact it's at Seiffert Oval is a bonus."
Many believe the Australian team is in need of new blood after an understrength unit was humbled by the Kiwis 22-18 in the Four Nations final.
"The Australian side will need refreshing, there's no doubt, but there was an element of that last year," Sheens said.
"I'm not looking at anyone in particular. It's a trial when all's said and done. I've been trying to get in as many games as I can before the Test match in May."
Sheens took the Raiders helm in 1988 and led them to all three of their premierships, the latest in 1994.
He said there was some initial backlash from some fans when they moved from Seiffert to Bruce but that was put to bed when the Raiders defended their title in 1990.
"I think there was some opposition to it but the next year we won a premiership out at Bruce, and backed it up with a grand final [loss to Penrith in 1991] the year after," he said.
"It was soon forgotten.
"From our point of view Seiffert was a massive home ground advantage because of the cold. In the middle of the year no one looked forward to playing us there."
SATURDAY
NRL trial match: Canberra Raiders v Newcastle Knights at Seiffert Oval, Queanbeyan, 6.30pm
