Coaches: Darren Sills and Sam Griffin

Last year: 10th (12 points, -32 goals)

Arrivals: Adam Hughes (Charlestown), Alex Read (Maitland), Daniel Minors (Lakes), Danny Ireland (year off), Fortia Munts (US-Lionsbridge), Harry Lane (Lakes), Dain Greentree (Jaffas), Kye Abrahams (Lakes).

Departures: Aaron Niyonkuru (Weston), Brenton Olzomer (Berkeley Vale), Matt Paul (not playing), Perry Budden (Warners Bay), Luke Willard (Wallsend), Joel Magnee, Kaelen Burke, Mitchell Lawrence, Rhyan Smith, Brock Oakley.

First month: Weston (A), Edgeworth (A), Adamstown (A), Maitland (H).

You've recruited well after a couple of lean seasons, so what is the pass mark for the team this year?

Our pass mark is semi-final football, it has to be. The club has been good enough to adjust the budget to allow us to be competitive, and with that in mind we've brought in three former professionals in Adam Hughes, Alex Read and Danny Ireland.

Which one of the recruits are you most excited about?

Obviously working with a player like Adam Hughes, who's played in the UEFA Champions League, the Asian Champions League, the A-League, professionally in Ireland and the Super League in China - we're talking about a guy who's probably done more than a lot of local professionals in our league.

He's a lovely guy and he's very knowledgeable with his football and will make an excellent coach, so we're very privileged to have him on board. He's our technical director as well and the club is excited because we're forming a decent pathway where hopefully we won't lose players like we have.

Defence has been the major problem. Do the recruits just solve that or is there more to it?

Definitely not, we had a trial game on the weekend against Maitland and tried some different shapes and formations that highlighted some weaknesses, but we weren't full strength either. We'll work really hard trying to keep clean sheets, it's important for us. We can score goals, we know we can, but we can't keep conceding two and three a game. I think three or four games last year we lost 3-2, and you can't score two goals and keep getting beat.

Apart from the recruits, has there been any other major changes?

One of the other key elements is we've brought it Matt Garland, who was Damian Zane's former right-hand man at Edgeworth. He's very knowledgeable and was a good footballer as a young bloke. He brings a real no-nonsense attitude towards training and his approach is a breath of fresh air, knowing there's a guy there who knows his stuff and is there to help and point out things. We might put on sessions together that he might tweak and he's doing a really good job.

Who is a player to watch this year at Valentine?

Probably the best player so far in all our trials is Harry Lane. He's been outstanding. He plays central defence beside Adam and is probably one guy who will take a lot of benefit from having a guy like Hughesy there guiding him around.

Valentine conceded a league-worst 60 goals last season as the promise generated by recruits like Ben Hay, Jacob Bailey and Bailey Garland came to little.

However, this year the additions of Ireland in goals and Hughes to the defence should go a long way to fixing their woes at the back.

With Read, Minors and Munts upfield with Hay, Bailey and Garland, Valentine should be better.

Many expect them to improve this season, but just how much is debatable. They still lack the depth of the leading clubs, but they should at least be in the mid-table mix alongside Charlestown, Hamilton, Broadmeadow and Weston rather than in the cellar again with Adamstown and Lake Macquarie.

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