WITH the Roar’s first real test since the assembly of a new-look squad in the pre-season fast-approaching, Queensland Roar Coach Frank Farina says he is confident the hard work of recent weeks will mean a good show for Sunshine Coast locals and a strong hit-out for his side.

The Roar arrive on the Sunshine Coast this Thursday to prepare for their Pre-Season Cup clash against Sydney FC at Maroochydore on Saturday night.

“It’ll be a good game on the coast this weekend; these next five games are really the start for us in the lead up to the Hyundai A-League kicking off and are probably the most competitive matches we’ll have had so far,” said Farina.

“The team will be going out and playing in a similar vain to what we’ve been doing over the last two months. But it doesn’t really matter how we go out there, once the game starts, things can change.”

With the squad having now played plenty of pre-season trial matches together, Farina said he was pleased with his players’ progress but adamant the collective was more important than individual key players.

“All of our players are key players to us; it’s a collective thing from our point of view so we’ve got to have everyone firing. You’re not always going to have eleven players on form on any given day, but if we can make sure that we’ve got a high percentage of players doing well and in form, that’s important to us.

“Sydney are obviously missing Milligan and Carney with the national team, but they’ll be looking at some trialists and I think Alex Brosque will always be a dangerous player for them. But like I said, I’m more concerned about us and how we’re preparing and at this stage preparations are going well and I’m pretty happy with where we’re at.”

Farina added that on top of the 19-man squad preparing to hit the Sunshine Coast this weekend, there are plans to add two or three new additions in the coming weeks.

“We still haven’t finished putting together our squad and we’re most probably expecting to add a couple more before the transfer deadline,” said Farina.