Speaking of the email list, the number of members now stands at 35. Add in the three or four players who don't have email, and Balmain Rovers has a very strong player list for the next winter competition. And this is four months before the season kicks off! A third Balmain Rovers team again looms as a possibility, but we'd have to figure out where to put it: team up with another Balmain team in a lower Premier League division? Enter a team in the All Ages comp (if it's still around)? Or perhaps enter a team in the Over 35s comp? The trouble with last option is that while we have enough players who qualify, they tend to want to take on the younger guys.

One player who won't be joining us this year is Brad Strzelec, a semi-pro player from England who had planned to join us on moving to Sydney. However, Brad and his partner found Melbourne a more affordable destination in the end, squelching his balmain Rovers plans. A couple of emails later, Brad is now trialling with Victorian State League third division club Brunswick City.