A rejuvenated Goulburn Valley Suns line-up will take to the field for the first time this year on Friday night as the club begins its 2023 campaign.
Relegated to NPL 3 last season, the men in orange will be aiming for a more successful year on the pitch in the lower division.
Pencilled in to take on Bendigo City in a pre-season friendly at Shepparton’s McEwen Reserve on Friday night, senior men’s coach Craig Carley said there was nothing like a competitive game to take pre-season to another level.
“We’re grateful to Bendigo City for coming down,” Carley said.
“It should be quite a good occasion with our juniors playing as well, so we’re looking forward to a gala evening of football.”
The Suns mentor said his squad had been working hard throughout the off-season to build its base level of fitness, with the arrival of the club’s new imports set to bolster its talented line-up.
“Things are starting to take shape and we just want to have a positive season after the disappointment of last year,” Carley said.
“We’ve got Taku Hishida coming in, who is our Asian visa player, and we’ve got Russell Currie, who is a striker that arrived on Sunday, and then we’ve got a player called Oriol Fernandez, who was previously in the area.
“We’re looking forward to those guys joining the squad and we should have two more that arrive in the next couple of weeks.”
While the imports may see some minutes on Friday night, Carley did not expect them to be fully fit at this stage, with the local contingent set to get a strong run.
“We had a break over Christmas and new year, but the boys were given a task to try and maintain some fitness,” he said.
“We’re just looking forward to the competitive games now, you can do all the running in the world in pre-season, but there’s nothing quite like a competitive game.”
Friday’s action will kick off with an under-14 match at 5.15pm, followed by the under-15s and under-18s at 6pm.
Senior action will kick off at 7.30pm.