Having finished outside the top four in the first two seasons, the pressure is on this time to finally make an impression in the competition.

Only goal difference spared the Glory the wooden spoon last season and recruiting for season four has been anything but a breeze for Mitchell.

The coach is already on record as saying he’d like an increase in the club’s salary cap and that issues of distance and cost have put off potential signings.

Simon Colosimo decided to swap west coast for east at the end of last year and while he has no regrets, has some sympathy for the coach he has left behind.
The 29-year-old told au.fourfourtwo.com that falling behind in the race (for honours) leaves clubs with a real mountain to climb.

And it becomes something of a Catch 22 situation. It isn’t as if you can suddenly splash the cash to buy success while players are inevitably going to be more attracted to a team they can see winning trophies.

He told this website: “Mitch turned the club around with his enthusiasm but if you fall behind in the A-League it’s hard to get back because of things like the salary cap. You can’t just go out and splash money around.

“Once you’re behind you have to work hard to make it somewhere that players want to go. Players want to win things and if a player has two options they look at everything.”

The Glory have added to their squad with the likes of Eugene Dadi and retained top performers Jamie Harnwell and Jimmy Downey but there are still spots to fill.

Over the weekend the club was linked with Manchester City defender Suree Sukha.