RECYCLED water has been a hot topic in Queensland. Support for the concept has plummeted along with the recent rains that have helped top up the states dwindling dam supply.

Gold Coast Utd have similarly been criticised from some corners for recycling A-League players. Daniel Piorkowski and Adam Griffiths last week joined Shane Smeltz, Scott Higgins, Kristian Rees, Matthew Osman and Steve Fitzsimmons as players signed based on A-League experience. Many are pointing to this as evidence that the expansion teams are simply diluting the talent in the league.

The reality is, though, bringing ‘Aussies abroad’ home was never going to fill a 23-man squad with a $2 million salary cap any sooner than a week of storms was going to end years of water shortages in the region. The eight current clubs were always going to need to sacrifice something. The challenge for them is to replace their lost stars not with mediocre state league players, but rather to look for their own overseas recruits.

Having lost Smeltz, Wellington have a chance to bring a striker like Chris Killen into the league. Newcastle could look to anyone from Trent McClenahan or Josh Mitchell to Kasey Wehrman or Michael Beauchamp. Do this, and the league’s standard will be boosted, not diluted. The responsibility sits with all clubs to achieve this, not just the two new additions.

While Gold Coast fans can be happy that the likes of Adam Griffiths and Shane Smeltz have been picked up, many may be starting to worry where the promised superstars will come from. Bleiberg has claimed 18 players have already agreed ‘in principle’ to join the club, but of those announced, none is going to secure a championship for the club. If they were, Phoenix and the Jets wouldn’t be sitting in the wrong half of the table. The sooner the list of overseas-based signings is longer than ‘Vanstrattan’, the better they, and I, will feel.

The announcement of the foreign signings is another source of some angst. Currently in Brazil, we can expect GC United to adhere to almost mandatory two South Americans in the squad. Hopefully Steve Panopoulos offers the next Fred or Milton Rodriguez, rather than Edmundo Zura or Claudinho.

Certainly the current squad-building offers fans both excitement and apprehension. Will Clive Palmer deliver us a title challenge as promised, or will we be left as also-rans like many others predict? Waiting to find out, of course, is part of what being a fan is all about. In the meantime, we can accept that recycling is critical to filling the club’s squad.