It will be a bit of an unknown for Altona Magic early days in the National Premier League.
The Magic has had significant turnover in the off season after finishing in 10th spot with seven wins in Goran Lozanovski’s second season back at the club.
Lozanovski said ahead of the 13 February kick off, the season had come about quickly and they were keen to get going.
“It feels like we were just playing last season,” he said.
“It’s been good. We’ve had a bit of turnover again and we’ve got some new faces on board.
“It’s early but unsure where we will be. Time will tell.”
Lozanovski said they had a mixture of players depart as they looked for new opportunities while they had looked to bring in some new faces.
He said there were about nine players who returned from last season.
“It didn’t work out how we envisioned it,” he said.
“We’ve signed a couple of new goalies, we’ve had changes over there.
“We have a brand new attacking side team going forward
“Daniel [Fabrizio] is at club for his third season, He is the only attacker left over from last couple of years.”
Among the inclusions is Brian Sutomo who has joined from Gold Coast United in NPL Queensland, bringing experience shaped across multiple footballing environments.
Brandon Lauton joins from Preston Lions with Lozanovski saying he was looking good in the middle of the ground during the pre-season.
Owen McCloskey comes from Port Melbourne and is another one to look out for according to the coach.
Englishman Josh Heaton, who most recently played for Green Gully, will bring plenty of experience to the centre back role.
Aymane Sordo joins from North Sunshine Eagles, while Lirim Elmazi ,who made his Magic debut when Lozanovski was coach last time, returns to the club bringing plenty of experience.
John Mabok, Geoffrey Lino Peter Hatzopoulos and Lachlan Gillard are among those that have returned for the Magic.
Lozanovski said they had promoted some players through the ranks which is exciting for the future and several would get opportunities this season.
The Magic kicks off its season on 13 February against Hume City.
Lozanovski said it would be a wait and see how they went early in the season after all the off season changes.
“We’re going to work through our starting 11 the next couple of weeks,” he said. “Others will keep fighting for position.
“It’ll be a bit of an unknown and we’re expecting to learn as we go. There’s no easy games.”
