![New blood: [From left] Trent Sierra, Michael Loupis, Jordan Figon, Ante Covic, Jonathan Grozdanovski, Harris Gaitatzis and Brayden Sorge have all signed with Rockdale City. Picture: Rockdale City Suns FC](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/EQCJBsSg4ZXprzwAMpLHiQ/8a7f008d-3d15-4cc9-b9a6-3618993f30e3.jpg/r0_196_4015_2614_w576_h298_fmax.webp "New blood: [From left] Trent Sierra, Michael Loupis, Jordan Figon, Ante Covic, Jonathan Grozdanovski, Harris Gaitatzis and Brayden Sorge have all signed with Rockdale City. Picture: Rockdale City Suns FC")
Rockdale City will look to continue their encouraging start to the new NPL 1 season when they host Sydney United 58 in their first home game on Sunday.
The Suns accounted for newly promoted Sydney FC 2-1 at Lambert Park, Leichhardt on Saturday night in their season opener thanks to goals from new striker Jordan Figon and Alec Urosevski.
Rockdale have kept much of the squad that finished fourth last season but player-coach Paul Reid has also been able to add quality in key areas.
The Suns have signed former Asian Champions League winner and Socceroo goalkeeper Ante Covic as well as experienced former Sutherland striker Figon.
Experienced attacking midfielder Harris Gaitatzis, 2014 and 2015 FNSW team of the year selection Brayden Sorge and former Sun Michael Loupis have all joined from Sydney Olympic, with prolific young striker Jonathan Grozdanovski – last season’s golden boot winner in the under-20s competition – joining from Blacktown City.
Reid said the potential of his new signings excited him.
“We’ve kept a lot of our squad together from last season which is good but at the same time we’ve strengthened with our new signings,” he said.
“We did do a bit of homework before we signed them to make sure they would fit in the way you want them to in the dressing room and they’ve fitted in so easily which is really good.
We did do a bit of homework before we signed them to make sure they would fit in.
- Paul Reid
“It’s a tough position to come into a new team. We’ve kept 14 or 15 players so they’ve come into a settled squad. Those boys are really starting to come together nicely with the way we play as well.
“I must admit in a lot of our training we were gearing up specifically for round one and the challenge of Sydney FC. We didn’t pay too much attention to results in pre-season, it was more about ensuring the boys were working together the way we wanted.
“We definitely have a stronger team than last year and we’re looking to finish much better than fourth. We want to challenge for honours and I think we’ve got the squad capable of doing that.”
Rockdale will host last season’s premiers and grand finalists with Sydney United coming off a surprise 2-1 loss at home to APIA Leichhardt in their opening match.
Kick-off at Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale, is at 4pm.
