The FootballSouth Premier League starts today and the usual suspects will have their eyes on the prize. But will there be a wildcard? Football writer Rab Smith casts his eye over the eight teams.
Before a ball is kicked in club football, the two main contenders for silverware appear to be Dunedin Technical and Caversham.
Only one point separated those dominant teams last year when Dunedin Technical won the FootballSouth Premier League title, despite Caversham racking up the largest goal tally of 76 in 18 games.
Former striker Aaron Burgess is now Technical's coach, previous boss Mike Fridge deciding to have a season free from the strains of command, but possibly with an eye on a new challenge in the national league.
Technical has lost midfielder George Milne, the FPL player of the year, and flying Frenchman Victor Da Costa, but some impressive replacements have arrived in the shape of Englishman Michael Naeverson and Scot Tom McBride. Ewan Bakker is a new signing from Halswell.
At the sharp end, former Green Island striker Taylor McCormack, Golden Boot winner Alistair Rickerby and veteran Richard Smith should be a handful for opposition defences.
One concern is an injury to centreback Matt Joy which has not cleared up from his national league season. That gap was temporarily filled by Burgess in one pre-season match, possibly signalling a new career for the former prolific striker.
Caversham survived its financial woes, and looks keen and eager under coach Tim Horner to regain the FPL championship it lost last year.
Horner has appointed former coach Steve Fleming as his technical adviser, a move more clubs could adopt to retain the knowledge and experience of proven former players and coaches.
Horner has had to accommodate the losses of Ant Hancock, now in Timaru, Will Smith and Jude Fitzpatrick.
But striker Tom Jackson looks full of running, and is joined by his impressive brother, Lewis. Another former Caversham workhorse, Rhys Henderson, will battle for places against the club's core of experience in keeper Liam Little, defender Craig Ferguson, Mike Smith, Andrew Ridden and captain Seamus Ryder.
A posse of young faces has also arrived at Tonga Park. Sam Collier, Michael Hogan, Brett Clifford, Jarod Grove and Tore Waechey will apply pressure for team selection.
Once again, Roslyn-Wakari keeper Peter Evans claims he is ''retiring'' and, if so, he could be replaced by the towering figure of Mike Rae, a young goalkeeper of immense promise.
Former centreback Chris Fernando will be missed, but Southern United defender Jacob Schneider has signed, and will join James Watson, Cam Attwood, Tyrrell Barringer-Tairi and Geordie Mansford to give Roslyn a steady platform at the back.
Captain Sam Mepham, Aajay Cunningham, Damo Foster, Fraser Cameron, Curtis Day and Mike Sannum provide the core of the side.
Placed fourth last year, coach Luiz Uehara's University looked sharp and, with the addition of two American players, Noah Woliner and Sam Winward, could open up opposition defences.
Unusually for a student side, Varsity scored only half the number of goals (37) Caversham (76) scored last year. Good ball retention and passing can sometimes slow attacks, and possibly this year there will be more incisive play.
The students still have a sound defence, led by keeper Jef Potrich, Peter Overmire and Logan Wrightwebb, while Henry Flood and Mike Nelson will feed frontrunners Jeremy Fong and Peter Rae.
Mosgiel looked lively in warm-up matches, Regan Coldicott dashing on to through balls from Morgan Day and already racking up enough goals to keep new coach Andrew Brook more than happy. The side will hope to improve on last season's disappointing total of four wins.
With Tom Stevens in goal and centreback Tom Bakker as anchor, Mosgiel breaks quickly from defence in attacks that feature Cody Brook, new signing Rahan Ali and Riley Anderton, who has already scored possibly the goal of the season against Northern at Prospect Park.
Mid-table Northern's coaching duo of Murray Devereux and Jeff Satterthwaite is looking to balance the experience of Darren Hart, Cam Higgins, Paolo Timajo and trojans Craig and Aaron Wilkinson, with several exciting young players.
From last year's squad, Northern has lost Norbert Dreyer and two centrebacks, but striker Angus Milne and midfielder James O'Callaghan will join the squad after the World Cup.
Gains include Kris Sweetapple, Taylor Quirk and Dorje Passang (Grants Braes), Bob Cox (Old Boys) and Truth Toheriri (Timaru).
Green Island under-achieved last year to finish fifth, despite playing some controlled football. Scoring 54 goals should have earned a higher finish, but plugging that leaky defence that conceded 38 goals - more than two per game - will be a top priority for coach Malcolm Fleming.
The Island starts with impressive young keeper Josh Dijkstra, and an experienced line of Cam McPhail, Liam Dungey, Nathan Gunn and Cody Robinson, around which Fleming will have to organise young talent such as Nick Meglinski, Jack Kirkwood and Matt Mitchell.
Queenstown's new boss is Jamie Whitmarsh, who is also the area coach for Central Otago, and as such he might cast a wider net, blending South American talent such as prolific scorer Carlos Herrmann and keeper Daniel Bocatios, with youngsters such as Olly Ceci.
