REDLANDS United coach Graham Ross has urged his team to entertain this season, as they push to finish in the top six of Queensland's premier club competition.
Ross said strong off-season signings would help the team bounce back from a disappointing 2019, where they finished tenth in the National Premier League with just 11 wins from 28 games.
"We have a new English import by the name of Rory Smith and he has performed very well in the pre-season, so I think he will be an exciting player for the league," he said.
"We have also brought in Kelton Scriggins from Western Pride to strengthen our defence and goalkeeper Max Davison, who is performing well.
"We have a couple of new attacking players as well so we are looking quite strong with the new additions plus the players we retained from last year."
Redlands United face Brisbane City at the Cleveland Showgrounds in their opening game of the season on Saturday night.
They will be led by Josh Anderson, who was named first team captain at the club's launch night on Friday.
New signing Gabby Hawash was named club captain, and will be tasked with linking the junior and senior teams.
Ross said the team would train three times this week to shake off any rust ahead of the season opener.
"We always want to put on a good performance at home playing in front of our fans and juniors," he said.
"We have placed a big emphasis on work ethic across the squad so we will be a very hard working team this season.
"We will also look to entertain. I think sometimes people forget we are in the entertainment business so if people come along to watch us play, I want to entertain them."
Redlands United will resume their rivalry with Capalaba in round three after a successful season in the Football Queensland Premier League last year saw the Bulldogs promoted to the top flight.
Ross said he was focused on this week's match but thought it was good to have the local derby a part of the fixture list again.
"I sort of take it one week at a time so the fans are probably looking forward to that more than I am, to be honest," he said.
"I am just focused on Brisbane City at the moment and we will look at that match (against Capalaba) a bit closer to the time.
"It is good to have a local derby and try and hype that up a little bit to have that rivalry again."
Graham Ross took up the mantle after Redlands slumped to third last on the ladder in 2019 before being nominated for the National Premier Leagues Queensland coach of the year award.
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