United’s Blake Mulrooney and Kieran Venema have the bulk of last season’s well-performed side, plus former Thistle golden boot winner Jimmy Somerton, returning players Josh Harris and Mal Scammell, and a raft of young players joining from schools and clubs.
A few months ago, Cramer did not know whether Thistle would be in the Eastern Premiership this year.
“We’ve lost 16 or 17 players from last season,” he said this week.
“Most of them have left the area, some to schools outside the district, or university; Cory Thomson has gone to Wellington to further his football and life opportunities; Oliver Aldridge has left because of work.
“We had a major rebuilding job on our hands. In November, I had four players and we considered pulling out of the premiership.
“We decided we’d go for it. We’ve brought in three or four under-19 players and picked up a few guys on working holidays.”
Diego Canales is a Peruvian midfielder or wide player in Gisborne for orchard work, and Theo Clarke is a New Zealander who has come from Wellington to work in Gisborne and plays at the back or in midfield.
Football’s version of the bush telegraph has also yielded talent from Britain.
Drew Churchwell is a 1.93m goalkeeper who has settled well since arriving from England a month ago; Luke Jarvie, 19, is a left-footed central midfielder; and Louis Sengelow, 19, is a centre back who looks good in training (Thistle have had no pre-season games).
Cramer is also hoping to add two more recruits to the squad in the next few weeks. He said those already here have looked sharp and shown good intensity in training.
Returning for another season with the Jags will be utility player Nick Land, defender Daniel Venema, midfielder Euan Cramer and attacking midfielder Travis White.
Younger players stepping up include Aiden Norris, Leo Starck and Cory Land (Nick’s son), while striker Leo Maisey has returned after a three-year spell in Auckland, where he played Northern League football.
United co-coach Venema said he and Mulrooney have a strong squad that is “fizzing” at the prospect of the new season.
Josh Adams, who usually scores goals, will be trying to stop them tomorrow when he plays goalkeeper.
“We’ll have our top 11 on the field, but that may change as the season progresses,” Venema said.
“I’m not sure what to expect from Thistle. We know they’ve made some signings and brought in young players.
“It’s a derby. You can plan for one thing and it turns into a dog-fight, or a really good match.
“We’ll just focus on ourselves and try to play the way we want to play. The boys have been putting in a lot of hard work and been really responsive to what we are trying to do. They are also going above and beyond, doing their own fitness work on top of what we’ve done in training.”
