Having signed as many as 14 players across all departments, Maritzburg United claim they will be much tougher to beat this season and definitely concede fewer goals.
The "Team of Choice", who survived relegation for the first time at the end of last season, have got two new faces in the goalkeeping department, three in defence, seven in midfield and two in attack.
Noah Chivuta and Felix Obada, attacking midfielders signed from SuperSport United and Thanda Royals respectively, appear to be the pick of the group, with the club also expecting much from their two Senegalese recruits, central defender Mor Diouf and attacking midfielder Vito Badiane.
"We are happy with the squad," said Maritzburg's chief of administration Afzal Khan, whose men open their 2009/2010 Absa Premiership campaign against defending champions SuperSport United at Woodburn Stadium in the KwaZulu-Natal capital tomorrow night (8pm kick-off).
"We have got good balance. There's quality in the squad and we believe we can compete in this league.
"We had to revamp the squad after the club faced relegation trouble again last season. We had to get rid of dead wood and bring in quality. Only 10 players remain from last season."
Khan said since the team conceded as many as 53 goals last season, their first priority in building a new squad for this season had been to shore up the defence.
"We have signed an experienced goalkeeper in Brendan Wardle and the defence should be tighter with the acquisition of the likes of James Madidilani, Byrone Hendricks and Diouf," said Khan.
Madidilani comes from relegated Thanda, while Hendricks comes from BidVest Wits.
"In the midfield, we believe we have more creativity than before, with Chivuta and Badiane providing flair. We also have two excellent wide players in Obada and Rudolf Bester.
"Up front, we have signed Norman Smith from SuperSport, plus one youngster, Tumelo Mahlangu, to compete with last season's players Bryce Aka, Fadlu Davids and Collen Zimba."
But Davids faces a fitness test ahead of tomorrow's match, which could lead to Smith making an immediate debut next to Aka.
Hummel is Maritzburg's new kit supplier, taking over from Spanish-based Joma, but the club are still searching desperately for a title sponsor. This means the club's directors, led by chairman Farouk Kadodia, have had to dig into their own pockets to cover the costs of the recent squad-building exercise.
This may also explain why no expensive strikers other than Smith have been signed, but Khan was confident of them occupying a place in the top half of the standings.
And upsetting SuperSport tomorrow would be the perfect way to start the new campaign.
"SuperSport are a formidable team - we took our whole squad to watch them play AmaZulu in the MTN8 quarter-finals at Chatsworth on Tuesday - and we have our work cut out, but we plan to surprise them."
Tomorrow: Maritzburg v SuperSport (Woodburn Stadium, 8pm).
Saturday: Swallows v Arrows (Dobsonville Stadium, 3pm); Cosmos v Platinum Stars (Rand Stadium, 3pm); Chiefs v Santos (Orlando Stadium, 8.15pm); Sundowns v Black Aces (Super Stadium, 8.15pm).
Sunday: AmaZulu v Wits (Chatsworth Stadium); Celtic v FS Stars (Seisa Ramabodu Stadium); Ajax v Pirates (Newlands Stadium) All 3pm