Olympic FC’s senior men’s side has hit the track in early preparation for its NPL Queensland title defence, having claimed both the inaugural premiership and championship in 2013.

Though the new season is months away, Head Coach Jim Bellas has begun putting his squad, including new signings Reuben Way, Ryan Meskell and Darren Gray, and several young hopefuls, into pre-Christmas work at Goodwin Park.

“We have got eight weeks starting January to get fit so this period is to get the cobwebs off and have a look at some new guys and a few young boys at the club as well,” Bellas said.

“We are going to have a 20-man squad and with the Player Points System we have figured out that we will need four or five young boys in the squad.

“We are looking at a few of them now and we will continue looking at them before making a final decision in late January.”

While the full squad will be fleshed out over the coming weeks and months, Bellas spoke of excitement about his new acquisitions.

“It is easy when you win the title, players want to come and play for you – it has probably been the easiest year ever for recruitment,” he said.

“Reuben Way is a classy player, he is strong, fast, he can shoot from outside the 18-yard-box and he is determined.

“Darren Gray is experienced, aggressive player and a good defender, which is what we lacked last year and why we brought him in.

“And we have got Ryan Meskell, a young goalkeeper at 19 who showed me in the games we saw him he has really good potential to progress.

‘Dixie’ is expecting the commencement of pre-season fixtures in the new year to be a marker for the squad’s competitiveness to rise as the double-winners aim to go back-to-back.

“Once competition games start everyone is ready to go, so it just rolls on from here.”

Words & Image: Olympic FC