It's been a wild ride since Wollongong United defeated Woonona in the 2020 grand final, amid COVID lockdowns and the ongoing rainfall this year.
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But coach Billy Tsovolos hopes the squad continuity will help offer an advantage to ensure they remain a title contender once regular games start again.
United have played just one league game so far, a 4-nil victory over South Coast United and are still standing in the Australia Cup.
While they've added goalkeeper Jacob Madden to the team this year, Tsovolos said the continuity of the squad will help gain momentum when regular games return.
"It's been hard for everyone, but hopefully it will help us," he said. "Everyone knows each other's games inside out, which is great, especially with the modified training we've had to adapt to without being able to train on our ground. We've had this group for three years now, so we're just waiting to get back out there and try and put it all together again."
United will take to the Ian McLennan Park synthetic pitch against Woonona on Saturday night, the last leg of a triple-header which also features Tarrawanna playing Corrimal (3.05pm) and Bellambi meeting Wollongong Olympic (5.10pm).
The other three games have been washed out.
Olympic are the early season pace-setters, with nine points from four games, the only blemish coming in a 1-nil loss to second-placed Bulli.
Woonona are level with United on three points, but have played two more games this campaign.
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