GOLD Coast Blaze coach Joey Wright has no hesitation in throwing American recruit Will Hudson into the deep end.

Wright will pit the 22-year-old Hudson against New Zealand Breakers' dangerous Gary Wilkinson when the two quality teams open the new National Basketball League season at the Gold Coast Convention Centre tonight at 7.30pm.

The Furnace will be ablaze with colour and the action on the boards will be scorching as the teams, chock-full of class players, bid to kick off the season with a confidence-boosting victory.

The Breakers have the personnel to go a long way to defending their premiership crown but the Blaze, bolstered by astute recruiting and the return from nagging injuries of several star players, are everyone's pick to figure prominently come playoffs time.

Wright has been elated with the efforts put in by Hudson during the pre-season fixtures and expects him to play a leading role with the Blaze this season despite his inexperience at this level of basketball.

"I went to the States looking for someone with strength and aggressiveness under the hoop and I came back with Will, who had just finished a successful college basketball career in Missouri," Wright said.

"I thought that he would be able to fulfil the role I wanted him to play, but now that I've seen him in action during the trials against the best players in the NBL, I know that he can.

"He's brought to the team energy and passion and already his will to win and enthusiasm is becoming infectious to the rest of his teammates."

In another interesting move, Wright has decided to put Chris Goulding on CJ Bruton. If Goulding can keep the great man a bit quiet it will go a long way towards the Blaze burning the Breakers.

The teams met in a recent trial, in which the Blaze edged out the reigning champions, but on that occasion both outfits were missing key players.

"This is the real deal but I couldn't be happier with our form going in the game and the fact that we have plenty of depth right through the squad," Wright said.

"Normally you have strength in the numbers up to five or perhaps even seven, but this season we have quality right through the line-up," he said.

He might not do it tonight by the Blaze's James Harvey is just 20 points shy of becoming only the 44th player in the history of the NBL to reach the 5000 points mark.

To win tonight, the Blaze will need to overcome a hoodoo - the visitors have won all but seven of their encounters at the Furnace. However, perhaps the home-court advantage will come to the fore this time.

The Blaze and Breakers have met 13 times in NBL history, with the Kiwis holding a healthy 10-3 lead over their opponents.

The last time the Blaze sent the Breakers winging their way home across the Tasman from the Gold Coast with their tails between their legs was January 31, 2009, when the locals recorded a 90-83 victory.

The Blaze will need to come out firing tonight because this is a proud and professional Breakers outfit.

They went 22-6 last season to win the minor premiership and then beat Cairns 2-1 in the best-of-three grand finals series.

The visitors will certainly miss the services of sharp-shooting Kirk Penney, who has taken himself and his scoring talents to Europe.