The Eastman Raiders 28th season will begin this Sunday in Winnipeg.

"Very exciting,” said long-time Raiders board member Charl Champagne who has replaced Sean Walsh as the club’s President. “We start pretty much in January so to finally see the season starting - it's a lot of hard work coming together so it's very exciting."

Over 70 players signed up for the season including 20-plus for Crunchers, 20-plus for Atom and 30 for Pee Wee.

There will not be a Raiders Bantam team in 2018.

"It's really encouraging to see the good numbers in the younger teams right now,” Champagne said. “With over 30 kids in Pee Wee it gives us a little bit of hope for our Bantam team next year. Maybe we can pull back some of kids who weren't able to play for us this year and pull up some of the Pee Wee kids that are moving ages and then hopefully we can revitalize that Bantam age group next year. With Atom moving into Pee Wee and Cruncher moving into Atom. it's got some longevity for us which is really encouraging."

Champagne is also thrilled with the decision by the Raiders to go ahead with Football Canada’s 1st Down Program for ages 4-5 & 6-7.

"It's very exciting because it's brand new in Manitoba. The Eastman Raiders have seen one of the best responses to the program. We're sitting at about 15 kids registered right now but it's one of the highest numbers across Manitoba which is exciting. Those kids are going to be starting on Tuesday. We're going to be teaching fundamental movement skills. We're going to be getting kids to love football at a really young age which is very exciting."

"We're seeing quite a few younger siblings that are signing up for the 1st Down Program that have seen their brothers or sisters playing football and now they really want to get into it at that young age,” added Champagne. “So we're giving them something to do during their brothers and sisters practices and we're going to get them kind of moving so that when they hit the Cruncher age they're just raring to go. They're ready to get in there and tackle some kids."

All four Raiders teams will play in Winnipeg on Sunday.

Both Crunchers teams will meet the Eastside Eagles; the Atom Raiders will also take on the Eagles while the Pee Wee Raiders face the Greendell Falcons at Investors Group Field.