You know, the 199 centimetre, 108 kilogram GWS Giants ruckman who defied doctors advice to complete a remarkable AFL resurrection? The undefeated professional heavyweight boxer?

That's just what Canberra Demons recruit Josh Maynard did when the pair locked horns in the pre-season. He didn't beat him in every contest, but the fact he did at all bodes extremely well for the year ahead.

Maynard is one of four debutants set to play for the Demons in the NEAFL season opener against the Gold Coast Suns at Alan Ray Oval on Saturday.

The former Ainslie ruckman joins reigning AFL Canberra Mulrooney medallist Kel Evans, Jonathan Spina and Adam Kinasch in a Demons side looking to better last year's underdog finals tilt.

The new faces around the club have filled Canberra player-coach Kade Klemke with plenty of confidence about the Demons' fortunes.

"[Maynard has] been pretty impressive. He brings that physical nature to his game. He really makes our midfield stand taller," Klemke said.

"He’s probably a little bit undersized against the AFL ruckmen but he complements that with his physicality and body work. He is really super strong. He loved the last two weeks playing against the Giants against Mumford and then playing against Darcy Cameron with the Swans.

"At times he was outmuscling those guys. For someone to outmuscle Mumford, you’d be like ‘really?’ But Maynard really did, and that gave him a bit of belief that he can play at this level.

"He is still learning the game, he’s gone from being the dominant ruckman in AFL Canberra to now, when he can’t just outjump everyone.

"He’s got to learn and change up his jumping patterns, and that’s good, because that’s going to grow his development and make him a better ruckman."

But Canberra's fate won't live and die with Maynard - Klemke says it is on every player to step up and prove themselves as a worthy finals contender.

"We don’t want to rely on the Maguires, the Melines and the Bruces. We want all our players to have a massive part so if Maguire doesn’t have as good of a game, someone else is going to come up and win it for us," Klemke said.

"Our aim is to be competitive every game. During those eight wins in a row we were fantastic, but we dropped off dramatically in the last four rounds. I want to be consistent over the whole season and not just a patch of the season.

"Those eight games show us what we can do when we’re all together. Our aim, is even when we are struggling and we’re not playing our best footy, is to stay in the contest.

"That’s what the good sides do, they might not be playing great footy but they still find a way to win."

The Demons are managing a handful of injury woes with Josh Bennett (knee) done for the year, while Matt Klemke (concussion), Alex Smout (foot), Sam Martyn (hamstring), Nick Eynaud (finger), Riley Corbett (knee), and Andrew Swan (knee) are all on the comeback trail.

NEAFL ROUND ONE

Saturday: Canberra Demons v Gold Coast Suns at Alan Ray Oval, 12pm. Live stream: NEAFL TV.

CANBERRA

B: 37. R Budd, 2. A Paech, 29. B Halse
HB: 18. A Baker, 12. J Spina, 10. K Klemke
C: 17. J Osborne, 15. K Evans, 14. D Roberts
HF: 16. M Hardie, 28. A Kinasch, 9. J Powell
F: 4. A Bruce, 13. T Faul, 35. T Highmore
R: 19. J Maynard, 36. L Meline, 8. M Maguire
Int: 24. H Carr, 7. C Owen-Auburn, 27. R Pollock, 21. M Vardanega, 23. G Richardson
Emer: 32. W Clark, 22. L Jamieson, 6. A Smout

GOLD COAST

B: 58. D Koenen, 46. C Graham, 54. E Semaan
HB: 59. K Boakye, 34. B Kin,g 43. J McLennan
C: 40. J Heron, 63. J Mohr, 42. C Nutting
HF: 53. C Beaman, 60. J Brumley, 49. J Hinds
F: 21. J Leslie, 32. B Crossley, 55. L McDonald
R: 22. T Nicholls, 35. M Rischitelli, 45. J Dawson
Inter (from): 7. W Brodie, 12. S Day, 39. N Holman, 38. J Joyce, 44. D MacPherson, 2. A Miles, 18. B Scheer, 15. A Young
Emer: 50. M Bell, 61. E Hunt, 57. J Mentha