Charlestown Azzurri have retained former A-League players Nigel Boogaard, Taylor Regan and Jacob Melling as they work to lock in a coach for the 2023 NPL men's competition.
Azzurri's season and time under coach Graham Law came to an end with a 1-0 extra-time loss to Olympic in week one of the finals.
The departure of Law and news this week that top scorer Riley Smith was joining Broadmeadow had raised questions about Charlestown's squad for next season.
However, Azzurri director of football Roby Valentinis said Boogaard, Regan and Melling had re-signed, while Smith was their only loss, apart from retiring skipper Matt Tull. Regan, in particular, had been targetted by rival clubs.
"I'm glad to say Taylor is an Azzurri boy through and through and he'll be playing with Azzurri next year," Valentinis said. "Fortunately, credit to the boys, it's not all about money, it's about playing for their club. We've re-signed pretty much all of our players. There's only a few more to go."
James Pascoe, who left Jaffas early in the 2021 season, is expected to take over as coach at Charlestown but Valentinis said: "We still haven't come to exact terms with a coach yet. We are in discussions with a few people but we haven't put pen to paper with anyone."
He said they were chasing a quality striker. He confirmed former Jet Roy O'Donovan, who lives locally, had been spoken about but he was staying at Sydney Olympic.
