It’s been an off season of change for Hume City in the National Premier League.
While Hume finished in seventh and only two points out of finals there was a lot going on off the field.
Nick Hegarty returned to coach the side for the back part of the season, with Hume using it as a launchpad to kick off this year.
“It’s been a long pre-season, a super busy one,” Hegarty said. “We needed a bit of change after things that happened last year.
“It was the reason why I came back then. I sat back a little bit to see what was going on and the roots of the good and the bad things.
“We’ve got a good group and good people together. The proof will be in the pudding.
“We can not wait to get going.”
Hegarty said they had only kept about half a dozen players from last season’s list.
He said they had looked to bring in players at both ends of the scale.
“It’s good mix,” he said. “There’s a number of players under-23 and then some premier leaders at good NPL clubs
“There’s a little bit of hunger to prove themselves and to prove to themselves to us. We’ve instilled that in the playing group that they are the ones driving us forward.”
Winger Adisu Bayew, who played 25 A-League games, Steve Whyte, Chris Oldfield, defender Joshua Wilkins, centre back Brayden Spink, Frank Busasa, Chris Engelhart, Khoder Kaddour, Jacob Adams, Moonib Adus, John Paikopoulos, Aiki Tsukamoto and Taylor Schrijvers are among the signings for Hume.
Hegarty said they had signed five players under-20 with three being home grown talent.
He said providing opportunities for the next generation was something that they wanted to continue to do.
“Developing young people in the squad should be what clubs are about,” he said.
“It should be the foundation of the dna of a club and that should never change.
“We’ve got five in the senior level and a lot of talent in the 23s and 20s that we will work with the next couple of years.”
The Magic will kick off their season on Friday night against Altona Magic.
Hegarty said they knew it might take a bit to get going.
“That is the reality,” he said.
“Whether we hit the ground running or take time to get into it we need to get points early on.
“We’re confident that we’re ready and some good players, well structured and organised.
“We’ll be hard to beat against Altona. The first game is always tough ask and it will give us a good idea of what is going on.
“We’ll get better week by week.”
