North Sunshine Eagles remain focused on being competitive each week and letting the results take care of themselves in the Victorian Premier League 1 competition.
Coming off a finals appearance last season in their first season in the VPL1 competition, the Eagles have strengthened their squad for the 2026 season.
Eagles coach Ben Isai said it had been good to get back out on the pitch.
“It was obviously positive to start with a win away from home,” he said.
“It’s been a challenging pre-season with a few departures and that was something that we needed to work through.
“We feel like we have a balanced squad that we are happy with.”
Isai said they had five players from last season not return.
He said they had looked to fill those gaps with recruits while they also promoted several players from their under-23s and pathways program.
Among the signings for the Eagles include visa player Julien Barras who will play full back,
Hayden Cross from Manningham, Korean Minchan Kim, Obiora Eze from Hume CIty and Mohamad El Hawli from Altona Magic.
Kevin Larson, another visa player, is set to join the club in the coming weeks.
Isai said they felt they have depth across every position and there was real competition for spots early in the season.
They started the season with a 2-1 win against Langwarrin.
Kim scored the winner just after half time.
“The second half [of round one] was a good reaction from being one nil down,” Isai said.
Isai said their focus for this season remains the same as it has the past few weeks.
“Again we want to be competitive in every game,” he said. “It’s a tough league, VPL1.
“Let’s make sure we’re really competitive every game and have the opportunity to win every game.
“If it’s better than last year we’re happy with it.”
The Eagles are back in action on Saturday against North Geelong Warriors.
Isai said at this time of year there was still a real unknown about every side.
“We’ve got our first home game at Larissa Reserve and hopefully we get a decent crowd,” he said.
“Hopefully we can go 2-0 and have a great start to 2026.”
Isai said while busy things were going well across the club and they were keen to get their junior seasons underway as well.
In other matches,the Melbourne Knights are in action against Melbourne Victory and Western United against Northcote City.
In NPL action, Green Gully and Caroline Springs George Cross will do battle and St Albans is due to face Preston Lions.
