Cats defender Marcus Drum will make his first appearance of the season on Saturday as the VFL Cats raise the curtain against the reigning ‘three-peat’ premiers - the North Ballarat Roosters.

Since crossing from the Fremantle Dockers at the end of the 2009 season, Drum has only managed to play 3 VFL matches with his last appearance coming in Round 19 last year. The unlucky Drum has sustained more injuries in the past 18 months than most players sustain in an entire career, but the highly rated half back has now been given a clean bill of health and is ready to resume his AFL career.

Drum joins a long list of players who are returning from injury this week. Joshua Cowan, Ben Johnson, George Burbury, Casey Tutungi and Jaxson Barham will all be back as the VFL Cats search for their first win in 2011.

The margins in all four of the losses this season - 27 points, 28 points, 32 points and 31 points - demonstrate just how competitive the Cats have been this season and the young team believe their first win is just around the corner.

For the first time in many seasons, the North Ballarat Roosters find themselves in the bottom half of the ladder. The team that won the respect of the football world has struggled to cover the huge loss of so many stars over the past 18 months. The Roosters loss to Collingwood by 1 point in a disappointing result and another would loss would see them fall further behind the leading pack.

A number of Kangaroos listed players will be on display with the VFL champions. The powerful Aaron Edwards and the lightning quick Matthew Campbell will both be out to impress the Kangaroo coaching contingent that have the rare opportunity to see their listed players play in an AFL curtain raiser.

The curtain raiser match kicks off at 10.40am on Saturday and with the new TV rights deal putting the future of curtain raisers at Skilled Stadium in some doubt, the club would encourage all fans to get there early and show how much the traditional pre-match lead up means to them.

B: Marcus Drum, Tom Gillies, Andrew McLean
HB: Matthew Firman, Joshua Walker, Cameron Guthrie
C: Steven Motlop, Christensen, Joshua Cowan
HF: Jesse Stringer, Ben Johnson, Jaxson Barham
F: Jonathan Simpkin, Nathan Vardy, Mitchell Brown
Foll: Mark Blake, Troy Selwood, Mark Corrigan
Int: Jordan Schroder, George Burbury, Ben Raidme, Jackson Sheringham, Casey Tutungi, Tom Maas, Mitchell Cuthill