Gold Coast SUNS christened Metricon Stadium on Sunday, with thousands of people coming through the gates to watch the GC SUNS first training session on their new home ground.
Representatives of the three levels of government who funded the 25,000-seat venue, along with the AFL were on hand to officially open the stadium prior to its first match against Geelong on Saturday night.
The players split into two groups and had a 45-minute session each on the ground as more than 10,000 spectators rolled through the gates.
They then signed autographs and took photos with the fans that had braved early morning rain to get to the Carrara venue.
Captain Gary Ablett was the fan favourite, receiving a huge cheer as he ran to the middle of the ground to greet Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, Gold Coast Mayor Ron Clarke and Federal Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government, Simon Crean.
Ablett took the first kick on the ground, kicking a goal from 45m directly in front to delight the screaming fans.
"It's good to finally get out on the ground," he said.
"We've been waiting for a while and it's exciting; first game this week and the boys are pretty pumped. We've had a fair few people turn out today so it's great to have that support along.
"I know there's been a lot of work over the last two or three years go into the club and building the new stadium and making sure people have got behind us and they have. We have just passed 13,000 members so it's pretty exciting for the club.
"We've just got to keep winning and keep improving and hopefully down the track we can get some premierships."
Ablett said he couldn't wait to take on his former club Geelong, saying it was extra motivation to perform well in the club's first match at Metricon.
GC SUNS chairman John Witheriff said it was a phenomenal day for the club and the thousands of people who had invested time in its development.
He was quick to praise Bligh, who had supported the GC SUNS in its infancy.
"There was a period after we did the bid submission to the AFL and we didn't have a stadium and I knew that was fatal, so that was our darkest hour," he recalled.
"But full credit to Anna Bligh. She took the courageous decision and the stadium commitment was made and it became the centre-point of an election. Having worked through that to now see this is just an extraordinary outcome."
The Queensland government supplied almost half of the $144 million redevelopment funding.
Witheriff described it as "the people's stadium" and looked forward with excitement the match against Geelong.
GC SUNS coach Guy McKenna said it was great to finally call Metricon home.
"We've got the jumper, we've got the song, had a win or two and now we get our home ground.
"To bring that back to the Gold Coast people – we don't have to drive an hour up the road, it's going to save time and effort and the boys can put that back into their training and games on the weekend."