Melville United are rebuilding their squad for their first Northern League campaign under new head coach Jarrod Young, and have made several new signings.
Returning to the club after three seasons with Miramar Rangers in Wellington is defender Flynn O’Brien (24).
He made 70 appearances for Melville between 2016 and 2019, before heading south, and scoring for Rangers in their Chatham Cup final loss to Cashmere Technical last year.
Ry McLeod (18) has joined from Lotto NRFL Championship club Tauranga City, and he impressed in Melville’s 3-0 pre-season win against Cambridge, scoring once and setting up another goal.
Main photo: Ry McLeod … impressive in pre-season friendly win. Photo: Melville United AFC.
Another scorer in the friendly was striker Jack Connor (25), who last season played for Lotto NRFL second division runners-up Ngaruawahia United, helping the club to back-to-back promotions.
Connor has been a prolific goalscorer for clubs such as Otorohanga, Te Awamutu and Claudelands Rovers.
Coach Young was happy with Melville’s first run out of the year, telling the club’s website:
“For the first 30 minutes, we were just trying to play to patterns and get familiar with a new style of play,
“For the final two spells, it was just a case of getting minutes into the players. Overall I was very happy.”
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Meanwhile, Melville will be without defender Luke Searle and midfielder Ryen Lawrence who have headed to Wellington to join Miramar Rangers.
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