So are Dicko, Dodge and Ogre.
It is possibly for one season only but today will mark the first time in seven years a Pirates men’s team will take the field at their spiritual home at Hancock Park.
Pirates dropped out of the men’s premier grade in 2017, and the last of their men’s sides folded ahead of the 2019 season.
The club maintained a senior women’s side until they were forced to pull out of the grade at the beginning of the 2022 season.
Pirates have a healthy junior club, but late last year some of the old stalwarts began working on a plan to field a men’s division 3 team this season.
They have played three games — including a "home game" at Tahuna Park.
But it was not the same. Hancock Park is home.
And in case you have forgotten, it is out by the beach and it is often cold, windy and miserable.
But Glenn "Dicko" Dickson is sure to get a warm welcome.
He has dusted off his boots for "one more year".
Why?
Dickson, who played provincial rugby for for North Otago in 2007 and Otago from 2008 to 2012, summed up the "why" beautifully.
"People had probably lost that bit in their lives, that connection to Pirates that they’d had," he said.
"We wanted to bring those people back together and we really thought we needed to have a senior team in the club.
"And secondly, a lot of us grew up down that club, mate, so we hung about with the kids of all our parents’ friends, and we’ve had those connections all through life.
"And I suppose the third thing is just giving people purpose, something to be part of.
"There’s a lot of guys who haven’t played footy in ages, so it’s giving them an opportunity."
Former All Black Paul "Ogre" Miller and club stalwart Daniel "Dodge" Johnson join Roy Hawker in a large coaching staff.
Pirates' elder statesman Brent Rodger is managing the side. He was the voice of the club for years.
Miller, who lost an eye to cancer, is also strapping on the boots.
"Our first home game, in quotation marks, was at Tahuna Park in the second round," Dickson said.
"We got a lot of people back to the club after that game.
"So, yeah, hopefully more and more people keep coming down.
"I’m really hopeful that there’ll be quite a lot at the club this weekend."
While Dickson is hoping the fan base will continue to grow, he does not believe it is the building block to help relaunch a division 1 team.
"Our theme is one more year and we’re just going to not put too much pressure on ourselves.
"We’re not really talking about 2026. We’re sort of just trying to just love the fact that we are training and playing every week at the moment in a Pirates jersey.
"There hasn’t been a lot of talk about the future."
Pirates have won two of their three games and are playing Toko, who have one win from four games.
"I had a good chat with the Toko coach during the week. He’s 55 and he’s still playing. I’m pretty impressed by that because there’s no way I’d be doing that," Dickson, 38, said.
"Hopefully being out on Hancock Park sort of lights a bit of a fuse for the boys and we can get off to a good start.
"But, yeah, we’ll wait and see, mate."
