Tuesday afternoon was the first time Tigers FC coach Ryan Grogan had ever set foot on Seiffert Oval.
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The FFA Cup home-field advantage has been dwindled to a 50-50 bout for the Cooma club in their round of 32 battle against APIA Leichhardt.
It was meant to be Deakin Stadium in August, then it was Viking Park last week and now the side will venture to their home state for their Thursday fixture in Queanbeyan.
"To be honest it's my first time being here, so this is the first look that I've had," Grogan said.
"None of the boys have played on this surface before. So I think from that perspective, for both teams, it's going to be a level playing field."
The fixture had to be moved to Seiffert - after two Tigers players contracted COVID-19 and the match was scratched 48-hours out from kick-off last week - as a 24-hour turnaround at Viking Park was not doable ahead of Canberra United's first ALW fixture on Friday.
Instead a predominantly rugby league venue was chosen to host the fixture.
Tigers' defender Jared Tonini got his first experience of the oval on Tuesday too and agreed it meant a more even playing field for the fixture.
"[It's the] first time for me as well," he said.
"It looks like a beautiful oval, and I think we're lucky to be playing here. I'm excited to have a different environment but it's gonna be ... an equal playing field for both teams."
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Cooma players will have some idea what to expect, having faced Sydney clubs in their careers, and Tonini was adamant they would be ready for Leichhardt.
"APIA is definitely going to throw some different challenges at us that we're probably not normally used to ... intensity is going to go up, but it's a big game that we're all ready for," he said.
"We've had the experience of the intensity and speed and all that sort of stuff, and the skill that these players have, so I'm excited for another challenge."
The Tigers brought in emergency signings to fill the gaps left by the COVID outbreak in the team, and will likely need to utilise those signings if they beat APIA and progress to face A-League Men's side Western Sydney Wanderers.
Grogan said the focus was on APIA and their one-week quarantine had not disrupted their physical preparations for the match.
"It's just getting a little bit silly with how long we've had to wait for this game but the boys excitement level, with the delay, just keeps building," he said.
"There's been no real drop in intensity, no drop in quality."