The star defensive midfielder – one of the key men in the team’s double winning side last season and scorer of that famous last minute goal in March’s A-League grand final – has had time to assess a United Nations of new signings at the club.

It’s a cosmopolitan mix with the signing of Canadian international midfielder Issey Nakajima-Farran on a one-year deal joining Albanian international striker Besart Berisha from German club Arminia Bielefeld.

Most interesting of all is Bahraini international defender Sayed Mohamed Adnan. The 28-year-old, capped 79 times by Bahrain, scoring 13 goals in the process, was runner-up for the 2009 Asian Player of the Year award.

The big Bahraini has already made an impression on the playing group.

“We call him ‘Big Mo’. He speaks English quite well and he’s played almost 80 times for his national team, so he’s no mug,” Paartalu told au.fourfourtwo.com after training.

“He was playing in the UAE or Saudi Arabia where the money side was probably better but he comes here and in a football sense, the standard is a lot higher.

“At training he’s shown glimpses of being great. No doubt his quality and presence is going to be good for us during the season.

“He’s probably the one who’s shocked us the most, as he’s the one who’s fitted in best of all the new boys."

Adnan is likely to play this weekend alongside Matty Smith in a practice match. 

Roar have lost prime mover Matt McKay as well as attacking threats in Jean Carlos Solorzano to Melbourne Victory and Kosta Barbarouses to Russia. Important players but not wholesale changes to a strong core of a squad, Paartalu said.

“There were a lot of names in that squad last year that no-one really knew about – myself included – but we sort of made names for ourselves last year," he said.

“And I predict the boys that Ange[Postecoglou] has brought in now are going to go on and do the same thing again. It’s all about the system that the gaffer keeps saying, and the quality of the boys we’ve signed to replace them.

“There’s no doubt that in losing the boys we had, we have lost quality in terms of the season we had.

“But I’m pretty confident from what I’ve seen so far and the progression we’ve made that the core of our team is still there.”

Paartalu stressed that Postecoglou may’ve signed relatively unknown players but they possess two key ingredients:intelligent footballers who also fit the type of person the club’s culture requires.

“There are no egos, everyone gets along well with each other and we’re all good people who are willing to learn and play to the system, and that’s half the battle,” said the 25-year-old former Northern Spirit player.

“You can have the best players in the world in your team but if they don’t want to play the way the coach is telling you to…  I think we all buy into the philosophy. And the new boys from watching them have bought into the philosophy as well.”

And on the new season, there’s no doubt that much of the focus has been on Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC with their high profile signings of Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton.

That may just work in Roar’s favour, speculated Paartalu, who believed that Roar should take some credit for lifting the league's cachet in the wider football community.

“This season you soon realise is different and with the arrival of Kewell and Emerton it almost makes us feel we need to step our game up. The league’s improving and not only with those two signings but look at Adelaide and Perth too.

“The teams are going to be more competitive and I’d like to think that Brisbane Roar have had some say in where the league is going.

“We have raised the bar in the way we play football and I’d like to think these sorts of players are coming back because they know the league is improving and we’ve had some part to play in that," he said.

Paartalu himself is open about his future plans and is keen to test himself back in Europe after spells in Scottish football before landing in Brisbane last season.

At 25 he is coming into the best years of his career with some also speculating that the former Young Socceroo is ready to step up to the national team should the likes of Mile Jedinak become unavailable due to injury or suspension.

The Socceroos remain a dream for the defensive midfielder but for the moment it’s Brisbane Roar and the A-League - and also a Scottish girlfriend who is coming to live in Brisbane with him.

He added: “We’ve done the long-distance thing for 15 months. She’s been my rock and being Scottish she knows her football.

"She’s very intelligent about the game.”