It's been a baptism of fire for the A-League's most northerly franchise. A chaotic off-season which saw players come and go right up until the competition kicked off has clearly affected the side.

The club also clocked up the frequent flyers with trips to Singapore, Perth, Sydney, Darwin and Gold Coast all part of a busy pre-season.  

The results this season reflect this with consecutive home losses and a battering by Gold Coast to the tune of 5-0 on the glitter strip.

Lack of team cohesion has been glaring. Ferguson concedes preparation has been poor but says it's all part of a learning curve for him as a rookie coach of a completely new club.   

"If I could change it, if I could go back in time, would I change it? Yes I would. I didn't expect it to be as difficult," he told au.fourfourtwo.com.

Ferguson said a large part of the frustration lay in dealings with players. He says some went back on their word after saying they'd sign.

He vows next year, he will be more hard-nosed.

"There have been a lot of ups and downs," he said. "There have been players that have come in here and all of a sudden they want to leave and we've let them go.

"We've had players over the phone saying they want to sign with us and then go elsewhere.

"Right now you look at the team and three quarters weren't even there [in pre-season]. It's been a little up and down."

He added: "I've been too trustworthy at times... it's not been the easiest place to bring players in but most players have been pretty honourable and decent.

"It's been a learning curve and we'll learn from that for next year."

Another example of the problems has been attacking midfielder Fred Agius. The exciting former Adelaide Red has not featured for the club's A-League campaign so far despite being available.

Agius was one of the standouts of Fury's pre-season. He starred for Fury in their 4-0 loss to Sydney in June and scored twice against Adelaide in a Darwin friendly victory.

However, Ferguson said the player has had a form slump in recent weeks as the life of a full-time footballer and an exhausting off-season may have taken their toll.

But like his team, the former Glasgow Rangers legend says Agius is starting to come good and is expected to play soon - perhaps even against his former club on Friday night at Hindmarsh.

"I don't know whether it's too much pre-season work, or too many games, or too much travelling," said Ferguson.

"He's had a dip in form in games and training, but he's showing great signs that he's really keen on getting back into the team in the last three weeks. He's not far away."

And that note of optimism can also be seen in the return of Ufuk Talay - who showed enough against Victory on Saturday to suggest Fury will be able to control some of the midfield battles this season.

Defensive bulwark Scott Wilson is also due to return soon as Ferguson's preferred starting XI takes shape.

Ferguson said he'd been in favour of concessions to help the club in the transfer market.

In the meantime, the Scottish great is clinging to the hope that once his strongest starting XI gets to play regularly - and the humidity in Townsville kicks in - the north will become a place to be feared rather than an easy three points and a nice suntan.

"Everyone says we're crumbling," he admitted. "Yes we got smashed from pillar to post and got our backsides kicked and rightly so [against Gold Coast].

"We've had one bad game from three. But we've got to understand the situation. We're a new franchise. We've got to get the shape right, the cohesion right, the personnel right.

 "There's no magic wand here. The knockers and the doubters just keep knocking us; hopefully we'll prove a few of them wrong."