To see Sydney's men v boys training session today...

Sydney coach John Kosmina today revealed he was planning on keeping his million-dollar plus signing wrapped in cotton wool until the start of the new season.

He wants to be sure of the veteran star's fitness for the blockbuster opening clash against Melbourne Victory in the first round of the A-League proper on August 16.

"I'm going to rest Johnny," admitted Kosmina today. "I'm going to make sure he's okay for the start of the season."

Kosmina has a few injury worries already going into the Pre-Season tournament and admits he'll be fielding a depleted side that may lack some experience.

As well as Aloisi, centreback Tony Popovic is also going to miss the opening matches.

"Poppa's got a little niggle that we can fix up but he won't be ready for the start," he said.

The first team, minus the injured veterans and also without Alex Brosque - who trained on the sidelines - Brendon Santalab or Adam Casey, took on some of the triallists vying for the 10 remaining spots in Sydney's youth team today.

Just two youngsters have been signed up so far by Sydney. Brendan Gan agreed a deal last week and the winner of Fox8 show Football Superstar was decided two weeks ago, although the winner's name is still being kept under wraps.

In a frantic training session today, the youngsters - under new youth coach Steve O'Connor - gave the older stars a high-tempo workout and managed to keep a cleansheet, even if they didn't score themselves.

Although there were no goals on either side, Kosmina said he wasn't concerned.

"We got into good areas," he said. "It's not a problem, especially considering we only had one striker.

"We're down a few players and I wasn't going to risk anyone, but I was happy with the session."

The training session saw new recruit Mitchell Prentice slotting into right-back where he impressed, with right-back regular Iain Fyfe moving into a central role.

"Mitchell's looking good at right-back, he's very comfortable and confident on the ball," said Kosmina. "Mitchell's a very good player.

"Fyfe will be moved centrally for the time being and we'll see when Poppa comes back. We might play three at the back because we have the option now."

Sydney still have one slot left in their senior squad and although the club is said to be deciding between NSWPL stars Shannon Cole and Joey Schirripa, Kosmina has not ruled out other options.

"I'm a big one for promoting from local talent so I'll have a look at what's going on in the Premier League and we'll work it from there," he said

"But Shannon and Joey are both still in the mix. Shannon's come back from his injury and got through his game yesterday - I spoke to his management - so we're happy with that."

Although Sydney are now back into regular training sessions for the Pre-Season cup beginning this weekend, Kosmina was -playing down expectations of success.

"We've got two boys away with the Olympic team," he added. "We want to play well but we want to bring processes in that will help us during the course of the season.

"It's a way of getting blokes some game time. We've had three practice matches and we've had some a couple of games at training and we will again later this week.

"Having said that, it's a competition and we want to win. But we won't be losing sleep if we don't."

To see Sydney's men v boys training session today...