On paper Glory have home ground advantage but Patersons (Subiaco) hasn’t always been kind to the Perth outfit, setting the scene for some of their greatest triumphs and most heartbreaking defeats.

Former skipper Jamie Harnwell was there for the good, the bad and the ugly and will reunite with club greats in a Legends Game curtain raiser against a WA veterans side.

Now playing for state league outfit Sorrento FC, Harnwell said if Patersons has taught him anything it’s that the most crushing losses often make way for the sweetest victories.

For Glory, hoping to put the demons of last season’s contentious Grand Final defeat behind them, it could prove an inspirational lesson on the eve of their Season 8 campaign.

Renovations to nib Stadium have seen a return to the AFL ground, which has provided some of the club’s most defining moments, including a troika of grand finals held during the dying days of the old NSL.

Among them the almost mythical 2000 season-ending clash during which Glory threw away a 3-0 lead to lose 7-6 on penalties to Wollongong Wolves. Harnwell – who was on target that day – remembers the game fondly.

“It was one of the greatest games I’ve ever been involved with and ever seen since,” he said. "There were so many swings in emotions – it was an unbelievable day.”

Glory returned to the ground two years later chasing ultimate honours only to lose 1-0 to Sydney Olympic. But redemption was just around the corner, and the following year the team defeated the Sydney-siders 2-0 win with Harnwell was again on the scoresheet.

“Patersons offers a bit of everything," he said. "We had some fantastic nights there. Nights I can look back on now and enjoy - the bad times as well as the good.

“The first time we played there we didn’t know what to expect. It’s a totally different ground to anything we’d been used to.

“It’s a big ground and a lot of space to cover so it’s whichever team can adapt the quickest.

“Hopefully Glory, getting a couple of training sessions in there during this week, will be able to do that.”

Given the controversy surrounding last season’s Grand Final, Roar can expect a rowdy reception from fans in the WA capital.

But Harnwell, who will be calling the game for Fox Sports, said retaliation will be far from the players’ minds.

“As far as the players are concerned I don’t think there’ll be any talk of revenge or anything like that,” he said.

“That’s happened to me a couple of times. You’ve lost a grand final and played the team the next year and beaten them but all you’ve got is three points, you haven’t got a gold medal around your neck.

“I think Glory will just be looking at using this as a springboard for the season proving that they can beat the big teams because they’ve struggled against Brisbane and Central Coast over the last few years.”

Prior to that blockbuster rematch, there’s the Legends Game. Backing up after Sorrento’s grand final game the day before may test the knees and ankles of Glory’s most capped player but the opportunity to catch up with the boys of yesteryear was too good to refuse.

“There’s so many to mention – players like Scott Miller, Jason Petkovic, Bobby (Despotovski) Matt Horsley, you could just go on and on,” Harnwell said.

One person he is keen speak with is former Perth Glory coach Bernd Stange who will make an emotional return to the ground after 12 years. The 64-year-old German, who signed Harnwell to his first professional contract, will be guest of honour and coach of the former grand final heroes.

Harnwell recalled: “(Bernd) didn’t speak much English at all when he first came, but over the course of the season you could just see the improvement in his team talks and how he used to abuse players!

“His criticism became a lot more in depth than it was at the start. And when he threw in a few German words - we certainly knew what they meant. He was just such a big personality – he really put Perth Gory on the map.

“The A-League’s obviously taken the game to new heights and new professionalism but we had some great players and some great teams playing in the old NSL and had some great times at Perth Glory.

“So it’s wonderful for the fans to be able to reminisce a little bit – in the hope that one day very soon that there may be another A-League Grand Final at Patersons for them to cheer about.”