JOEL Porter and Adam Griffiths are the penultimate pieces in a puzzle that Miron Bleiberg began assembling way back in September last year, when Jess Vanstrattan was first unveiled.

The final two players in the 23-man Gold Coast United squad are Ivory Coast youngster Adama Traore, who is due to arrive on Sunday, and Ryan Griffiths, who will be arriving from China just in time for our Boxing Day home derby against the Roar.

After all the months of waiting and watching, the full Gold Coast United team should be taking the park against North Queensland Fury in less than two weeks. The only players missing will be young James Brown (broken leg) and quite possibly Jason Culina. Miron says he will have to wait to see how Jason feels when he gets back from Socceroos duty against Japan next week.

Given that Culina headed to the Gold Coast as soon as his season with PSV finished, then flew off to play in 40 degree heat in Qatar, then came back to play Bahrain in Sydney four days later, it would be understandable if he needs a rest after one more big game in Melbourne. But personally, having seen the wicked glimmer in his eye when he faced the local camera crews at training a few weeks ago, and barring any physical injuries, I think he might just be up for it.

The other big question, of course, is whether Robbie Fowler will be playing. His groin injury was supposed to take "two to three weeks" to heal - if it takes three weeks or longer, he'll miss the Gold Coast game. I'm sure Fury chairman Don Matheson would love to see his side hand Professor Clive F. Palmer's boys a beating, but will he want his prized marquee making his debut against us? We'll just have to wait and see.

One person who doesn't expect Fowler to start is Gold Coast coach Miron Bleiberg. But he's also not too worried if the old Liverpool legend does take the pitch.

"I think the injury might be worse than they are saying," he told me at the official kit launch on Main Beach today. "He hasn't been playing for a long time. If you look at his physique, he doesn't look like a footballer."

Ouch! Now that's GOTTA hurt. Feel free to vent your howls of outrage below!

Miron's new team is now beginning to gel, and they made short shift of their local trail opponents last night, with an easy 7-0 win over Musgrave. There are only two more local games scheduled - Rochedale Rovers on
14 July and Tweed Valley Kings two days later.

It's now time for United to start taking on some better quality opposition, and North Queensland should be a good start. Tickets for the June 23 clash at Skilled Park will be limited to 5,000 seats in the Western Grandstand, and are now on sale through Ticketek.

The same seating allocation will apply for the game against Central Coast Mariners at Skilled Park on July 18, after which we fly to Perth for a game against the Glory on July 25, where the Culina v. Sterjovski matchup could be even more fascinating than our NQ game.

Sandwiched between those A-League warm-up games is our overseas trip New Caledonia (June 25), Singapore and Hong Kong. By the end of July, Gold Coast United should be firing on all pistons for our August 8 date with  Brisbane Roar (who incidentally will be playing North Queensland in Mackay tomorrow night).

I expect the bookies' odds of a Gold Coast Grand Final victory will be considerably shortened by then.

+ + + +
One question I was dying to ask Miron was when exactly he knew that he had Jason Culina's signature in the bag.

"Basically in November last year," said Miron. "But then there were a lot of other things - does he want another hundred thousand? does he want a car? does he want a unit? - so it took some time. But basically in November."

For me, that explains a lot. It seemed like Miron was building a team around an invisible midfielder, and many fans were wondering who would fill that gap. But in fact, the gap was already filled - he built the team around Culina.

+ + + +
I was also lucky enough to attend the unveiling of Joel Porter and Adam Griffiths this week. And yes, those photos don't lie - Joel Porter really is built like a brick sh*thouse! His physique reminds me of the young Maradonna. Let's hope he can score like Diego - on the pitch of course!

And it was funny to hear Adam fending off a reporter's suggestion that he had helped broker a deal to bring his brother Ryan to the Coast.

"He speaks Chinese now," Adam laughed. "I can't understand a word he says."