South Coast United hatch plan to move off foot of Premier League table

A host of key players have departed the club in recent months - including Jamie Wakeling (to Tarrawanna) and Marco Pennisi (Port Kembla) - while SCU has also been active in the player market this off-season.

Joining the club is Antonio Farkas - whose brother Adam played for SCU in 2022 - as well as former Macarthur Rams player Advin Trebincevic, and ex-South Coast Flame representative Alex Gaibraith.

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SCU has also managed some key re-signings, including goalkeeper Jason Bleakley, veteran Ricky Bertakis, young guns Lucas Loncar and Antoni Anic, and brothers James and Kieren Brodnik.

"Antonio is a central defender and the other two (new) boys are attacking midfielders," Valic said.

"There's still half a dozen from our team last year, but we've had a bit of a transformation (this off-season)."

2023 shapes as an important season for SCU, with Valic hatching a plan for his team to finally move off the foot of the ladder.

COVID saved United from a move to the District League in 2020 and 2021 - with Football South Coast opting to not enforce relegation due to the heavily impacted seasons.

As the rain continued to tumble last year, SCU then benefited from FSC's revamped format late in the season, which saw the bottom four teams battle it out against each other to avoid the wooden spoon.

It was a change that saw United finish their campaign in ninth position, with four victories and four draws next to their name.

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"The last couple of years have been tricky, but this year, everyone seems to have come back with a renewed determination to succeed and do well," Valic said.

"We've had some really positive results in our pre-season so far and training is going well, so people are really positive about this season. And fingers crossed we can outperform the seasons we've had in the last couple of years.

"First of all, we have to exceed the points total of what we did last year. And the earlier we do that the better, because if we can do it early on in the season, I think there's a chance of us bridging the gap and hopefully sneaking into the top five.

"Step one is to exceed last year's results and points tally. And once we do that, we can take it from there."

This year's Premier League kicks off in the first week of March, with SCU to face last year's grand final winners Wollongong Olympic at home on Saturday, March 4.

Rivals Coniston and Cringila will meet in the season opener two days earlier at Crehan Park.