Canberra Olympic will be hardly recognisable when they face Canberra FC in the grand final rematch at Deakin Stadium on Friday night.
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Olympic lost 16 players from their first-grade squad from last season though transfers, injury and retirement. But coach Frank Cachia is confident they'll once again compete for silverware.
The main casualties include forward Jeremy Habtemariam (Gungahlin United), midfielder Daniel Colbaltaldo (Canberra FC) and goalkeeper Ange Konstantinou (achilles).
The other starters to depart were Josh Calabria (Pascoe Vale), Roko Strika (Cooma Tigers), Domenic Giampaolo (Canberra FC), Michael John (Gungahlin United) and Tom McLachlan (Gungahlin United).
Olympic has signed former A-League striker Kofi Danning from Canberra FC and he'll work in tandem with prolific goal-scorer Stephen Dominici who was retained.
Cachia also picked up some interstate and overseas players and while acknowledging it had been a tough off-season, he emphasised Olympic will still be strong.
"There's no denying we've lost a couple of players we would have loved to have kept but at the same time other clubs have picked up guys which has helped me avoid some tough conversations," Cachia said.
"Jay Kelly has come back from Melbourne, I got two boys from Noosa on the recommendation of a former player and I picked up a Danish centre back that on scholarship in the US, Lasse Olrik, who has proven himself a pretty handy addition.
"It's just swings and roundabouts."
There will be plenty of former teammates coming up against each other when Canberra FC host Olympic in round one and Cachia said the clash would be an early litmus test.
"We're a brand-new team so we'll see how we go, but the boys we’ve got I'm still pretty confident in and that the team we'll put on a park will be very competitive," Cachia said.
"We had a lot of difficulties last year with injuries and our best midfield makeup never actually played together. But the league went down to the last game and we still went within 10 minutes of winning the grand final.
"Even know we’ve lost a number of players, the younger guys coming through have stepped up already and we had several teenagers playing in our FFA Cup qualifier last weekend.
"These boys have gelled well as group and I'm really looking forward to seeing how they go."
Canberra FC has lost some big guns of their own with reigning golden boot winner Thomas James heading to the Wollongong Wolves.
But they still made a strong start to the season with a 2-1 victory against Gungahlin United in the Charity Shield last weekend.
Meanwhile, Olympic, Belconnen United, Tuggeranong United and Cooma all progressed in round five of the FFA Cup qualifiers.
CANBERRA PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND ONE
Friday: Canberra FC v Canberra Olympic at Deakin Stadium, 7pm.
Saturday: Riverina Rhinos v Monaro Panthers at EW Moore Oval, 5pm.
Saturday: Woden Weston FC v Belconnen United at Melrose Synthetic, 7:30pm.
Sunday: Cooma Tigers v Tuggeranong United at Nijong Oval, 3pm.
