Charlestown Azzurri have added some proven firepower to their front third by signing former W-League striker Jenna Kingsley plus Mid Coast product Courtney Anderson.
Kingsley made 61 appearances for the Newcastle Jets before announcing her retirement in 2020 and finished her W-League career with 87 games in total in the country's elite competition.
The 29-year-old has collected the leading goalscorer honours in Women's Premier League on multiple occasions and joins Azzurri from New Lambton as Northern NSW Football's top-flight women's competition transitions to National Premier Leagues Women (NPLW) status this year.
Charlestown replaced Merewether in the competition last year and were sixth on 18 points, 10 adrift of the top four, when the season was cut short by four rounds due to COVID.
Azzurri lacked squad depth and struggled to field a consistent line-up due to ongoing injuries and unavailability.
But coach Niki Papaspiropoulos, who took the helm midway through last campaign, has bolstered the squad and is confident they will be pushing for finals.
Azzurri had already announced the signing of Jets left-back and 11-times capped Matilda Gema Simon.
The club has also retained senior players Nicki Jones, Lori Depczynski and Tamara Nash as well as lightning quick attacker Jess Gentle.
Anderson had a break-out WPL season for competition heavyweights Merewether in 2019. She was one of the least experienced players in a strong and established team but featured in all 24 games and scored 14 goals, including one in a 4-3 loss to New Lambton in the grand final, to be named the club's player of the year.
She had a season for Mid Coast in 2020 but did not play WPL last year.
"Although having been out of the competition for a bit, she's still very sharp and tidy and hasn't lost her ability," Papaspiropoulos said. "It will just be a matter of getting match fitness back and things like that.
"Jenna is obviously a good pick-up. It adds a bit more competition for the top third, which is good.
"We've promoted a lot of our 17s girls, who have been back-to-back premiers, and across the squad there's a lot of youth mixed in with very experienced players. On paper we look stronger than last year."
Papaspiropoulos said Azzurri were getting to "the business end of pre-season" and expected a trial match with NNSW NPLW side APIA Leichhardt next week to be "a good test" as they eyed their first game of the season against Newcastle Olympic on March 19.
Defending premiers Broadmeadow host Adamstown at Magic Park on March 18. In other round-one matches, Warners Bay host New Lambton and Maitland meet Mid Coast.
Warners Bay have signed Jets trio Cassidy Davis, Tara Andrews and Lauren Allan.
