After signing 37-year-old former Italian international Massimo Maccarone as the club marquee and Fahid Ben Khalfallah, 34, many questioned the club’s recruitment policy.

With Michael Theo 36, North himself 35, Avram Papadopoulos 32, Thomas Kristenesen 34, Brett Holman 33, Matt Mckay,34 and new French recruit Éric Bauthéac 30, nine of the Roar’s potential starting line-up are over 30.

Brisbane's young brigade of Joe Calleti 18, former Australian youth international Peter Skapetis 22 and exciting All Whites defender Dane Ingham 18, does lower the squad’s average.

But looking back on previous campaigns North believes successful A-League teams have always had veterans to guide the youth.

“People are entitled to their own opinion and that’s fine,” he said speaking exclusively to FourFourTwo.

“We’ve got some very experienced players and teams that have done really well have always had some experience.

“It’s how you use the experience and how you use the players that you’ve got to the best of their ability that makes it successful.

“But it’s not just about the experience, we have some great young players coming through as well and if we get the right mix of players of youth and experience we’ll have a really good season this year.”

During the last two seasons the Roar’s efforts in making the grand-final have been thwarted at the final hurdle after suffering two narrow losses in the semi-finals to the Wanderers and Victory. 

North believes those fine margins are a major motivation for Brisbane to go one better this season.

“We’re a very hungry team,” he said.

“We were very close once again and we really want to make the finals again. That’s our aim and we want to be in the grand final and we have belief in our team that we can go all the way.

“We can take a lot from last season and the last couple of seasons. For us as a collective group it was very positive signs.

“We’ve got some really good signings and some new faces in the side this year that will strengthen the team and it’s a lot stronger this year.”

While the age of Brisbane's playing roster has dominated the off-season how the club will fare without cult hero Thomas Broich, striker Jamie McLaren, winger Brandon Borrello and Tommy Oar is also a major concern.

But North feels the new recruits can help the Roar reach their season’s goals.

“Absolutely we can reach the heights,” he said. “I can see the quality that some of these players have brought and each possess different qualities as well.

“I don’t like to compare players from today to yesterday. I’m just really happy with the squad that we’ve got. We’ve always had a good backbone at Brisbane Roar

“I’m very excited about this upcoming season and I think we’re going to do really well.

"It’s tough to lose some players from last season but every other A League club has had these kind of problems each season. It’s just part of the game."