The A-League new boys are not only eyeing a finals berth in their first season but are also looking at the next stage in their roster’s development – and club bosses believe top-drawer talent will be much easier to attract to AAMI Park during this European summer.  

“I think everyone’s aware of the difficulties being faced by the European market at the moment, so I’m pretty confident there’ll be a whole host of players available that maybe two or three years ago we could not have had in Australia,” GM of football operations John Didulica told au.fourfourtwo.com today.

The former NSL player oversaw the club’s long and at times torturous recruitment plan in the 12 months prior to this season – their first in the A-League. 

Heart’s policy was to bring in key credentialed footballers loaded with experience and guile, such as John Aloisi, 35 next month, Dutchman Gerald Sibon, 37 next April and Joe Skoko, who turned 35 last month.

They were picked to set the right culture and build the fabric within the club as well as provide a dash of class in the heat of battle.

All on one-year deals, that plan has worked to a tee. This season, Aloisi and Sibon have scored five and six goals respectively while Skoko’s presence in the midfield has at times been sublime.

But with Didulica re-affirming Aloisi’s decision to coach Heart’s youth team next season, and both Sibon and Skoko on one-year deals, the next stage in the club’s development will soon unfold.  

Heart won’t be looking at signings in the January transfer window as Didulica says 18 players are still on-contract through next season. It’s a settled Heart squad and one Didulica says the club's coaching staff is happy to retain. But there will be some key changes as the older heads potentially move on. 

“We don’t need to do much shuffling around,” he said.  “But with John [Aloisi] moving on to coaching it’s a really good opportunity to bring in someone of real quality.

"We want to target a really good, proven goal-scorer. And that’ll probably be looked at in May, June or July. If those three players all move on, the oldest player in our squad will be Simon Colosimo at 32, followed by Dean Heffernan at 31 and Michael Beauchamp at 30.

"Then we'll have 12 players under 23."

After three consecutive wins, and with six games left in the regular season, Heart are handily placed in sixth on 30 points.

But the final two spots in the play-offs could still do down to the wire with the red and whites having played 24 games, more than the chasing pack of Phoenix (in seventh, played 22 on 26 points) and the Jets (in eighth, played 21 on 25 points).

And while the older players have no doubt been key, Didulica agrees that the long-term goal is to reduce the age of the squad and believes the club is slowly moving towards that aim - something that's already beginning to show. 

He added: “[Heart coach] John van Schip has always said, the real growth you get in a football club is improvement in young players.

"And in Adrian Zahra, Aziz Behich and Nick Kalmar we’ve got that. They’ve been exceptional. And don’t forget Eli Babalj and Brendan Hamill both who’ve just turned 18.”