They have attracted a swag of new players who have joined an experienced spine under the tutelage of new coach Blair Scoullar, who is no stranger to the big leagues.
Scoullar, who takes over from Richard Murray, pushed the reset button during their preseason and has clear expectations for the Southern League season, aiming for a top-three finish.
"I think that’s important as a group," Scoullar said.
"We want to be in the dance at the end or give ourselves a close chance to make that ... any other club should have an aspiration to make that."
Scoullar, who is also the Royals academy director, had a "shopping list" of who he wanted to bring in during the offseason, based on strengthening the defensive line first up.
Ben Campbell joins from Otago University, Tom Milton shifts across from Green Island, Samoan international Luke Sailsbury joins from Roslyn-Waikari, Luis Deaker comes from Northern and semi-professional American import Brady Jacobs has also landed at the Royals.
Scoullar is also pulling up some young guns — "we’ve got some really entertaining talent coming through" — including 16-year-old Sam Drake.
They join experienced campaigners Connor Neil, who will captain the side, Will Turner, Nico Zambrano, Hugh Jack and En Watanabe, who is available for the first half of the season.
The Royals, who finished seventh last season, are without last year’s captain, Hayden Aish.
After a 10-week preseason, Scoullar liked what he was starting to see from his squad.
"I think we needed that to work on a new playing style, new philosophy, a whole bunch of new players getting to know each other as well."
The Royals have had a handful of warm-up games, including against Coastal Spirit — who they are away to on Sunday — which was a 1-1 draw.
"It’ll be good to have another bite of the cherry, so to speak, this weekend."
But there are no guarantees when it comes to the Southern League.
"I don’t think we’re really going to get any easy games and I think it’s the person that comes out the gate fast.
"We’ll be really looking to try and get off on the front foot pretty quickly.
"That starts this weekend. We need to really get after a good three points to start the season [against] a very good Coastal team."
Scoullar had a long career as a player at a representative level and the prospect of being on the other side as a Southern League coach was exciting.
"For me, as a player I’ve played in a lot of variations of the national league and South Island leagues in my career ... to step into it as a coach, it’s exciting," Scoullar said.
"I’m very much still excited like a player. I’m almost forgetting that I’m actually coaching this weekend because there’s a lot of fizz around the training ground and the boys are getting ready to go and you feel a part of it.
"That’s a really important piece of our culture as a group this year, but I’m really excited to play a few teams that have really done the business in the league since it started."
He had a long association with Wanaka and was pleased to see them make the step up to the Southern League this season. But Scoullar hoped another Dunedin team could make the leap again soon as well.
The Royals open their season against Coastal Spirit in Christchurch on Sunday. Games will be streamed on Fifa+.
■Tomorrow: Wanaka ready for big show
