ST KILDA’S visit to Canberra this week will be the second time the club has played a game for points in the nation’s capital.

The last time was 12 years ago in a game remembered mainly for the 300^th game of club legend Nathan Burke.

More than a decade on, Greater Western Sydney is developing Canberra as its second home and will take the Saints on this week in the first AFL game to be played under lights in Canberra.

The Saints lost its first game to North Melbourne, which at the time was playing a handful of games a year at Manuka Oval.

Stewart Loewe booted seven goals in what remains a ground record, while current-listed Saints Lenny Hayes, Justin Koschitzke, Jason Blake and Stephen Milne also played.

Koschitzke’s first game for St Kilda was in Canberra when the club took on North Melbourne in what was then known as the Ansett Cup in 2001.

The Saints have an affinity with the city dating back to 1948 when they recruited Alan “Ginty” Stevens from ACT powerhouse Ainslie.

Stevens had captained Canberra in the 1947 state carnival and represented Victoria in his first year at St Kilda. He played 22 games with St Kilda over a three-year career.

More recently, St Kilda premiership player Kevin “Cowboy” Neale spent time coaching Ainslie after his VFL career came to a close at the end of 1977. He was captain-coach of the club’s 1979 and 1980 premiership teams.

Neale later coached one of Ainslie’s rivals Tuggeranong where he oversaw the development of two future AFL players – Essendon and Richmond player Justin Blumfield and future St Kilda captain Aaron Hamill.

Hamill, now back at the Saints working as a development coach, said he was looking forward to returning to the city where he grew up.

“I haven’t been back there in a while, my family have moved on from Canberra but I’ve got some friends who still live there,” Hamill said.

“But I probably haven’t been back there for a decade so it’d be good to grace the capital again.”