IT was a double dose of good news for Brisbane Roar on Tuesday – they finally made their long-awaited return to Ballymore and defender Luke DeVere did enough to earn some much-needed playing time this weekend.

Having expected to be at Ballymore for the start of his side’s pre-season slog on July 11, Roar coach John Aloisi said it was better than late never to be back at the Herston venue which housed the club from October 2008 to the end of the 2014-15 season.

While Monday was moving day, it was back to the grind on Tuesday, with Aloisi keen for his players to make up for lost time by training on a quality surface that the club’s former training venue, Griffith University, couldn’t offer.

“It’s much better for the players,” Aloisi said.

“We had hoped to be here from day one of the pre-season. It’s taken longer than what we thought, but we’re finally here.”

media_camera Brisbane Roar players train at Ballymore on Tuesday.

It has been a similarly frustrating wait for DeVere, who did not play a minute of A-League football last season after suffering a serious quadriceps injury in a needless friendly against Spanish team Villarreal in June last year.

DeVere also required knee surgery last month, and wasn’t expected to enjoy any game time until trials next month.

But having bounced back from his operation quicker than expected, the 26-year-old centre-back has been pencilled in for 45 minutes of action when the Roar meet a Brisbane Premier League Select XI on Saturday night at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre at Nathan.

“Luke’s going to play earlier than what we thought but that’s great. It’s important that he gets some match fitness and minutes into his legs before the start of the A-League,” Aloisi said.

Should DeVere prove his fitness over the remainder of the pre-season, he will be in line to start alongside veteran Jade North when the Roar kick-off the A-League season on October 7 against Melbourne Victory at Suncorp Stadium.

The Roar on Tuesday confirmed the addition of a trial ¬ against an NPL Queensland under-23 select team at QSAC on September 24 ¬ to their pre-season program.

Brisbane captain Matt McKay urged the BPL and NPLQ representative sides to “prove a point” in their matches against the Roar.

“And then we’ll work hard to prove while we are professional and why we’ve been that way for many years,” said McKay, who is keen for the Roar to return to winning ways after an FFA Cup loss to Perth Glory and trial defeats against Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC.

“In patches we’ve been brilliant in those games and that’s always positive but … it’s that winning mentality, we need to have that and we’ll be working on that in these next couple of games.”