Young guns Josh Correia, Bailey Babarovski and James Stojanovski all played key roles in United breaking through for the IPL premiership this year, which was the first in the club's history. The trio have now re-committed to the club for next year, in the hope of Billy Tsovolos's men being crowned defending champions.

For Correia, the decision to stay at Macedonia Park was a no-brainer.

"I think after the year we had, it would have been silly not to re-sign," the midfielder, 21, told the Mercury.

"Overall, we had such a good year. We won the league, we made the [Australia] Cup round of 32 and then came up short in the grand final. But the culture we have the club and all of the boys get along so well on and off the field, so it was the only decision to stay.

"We obviously want to go back to back, but I think ticking off that grand final is another thing we want to get done. I think that's a bit of unfinished business."

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Correia and Babarovski represented United in 16 IPL games in 2022, while Stojanovski played a dozen games in the top league.

After his breakthrough season, Correia said he was likely to take on more responsibility next year.

"I think a lot of the younger boys have that experience under our belt now and we played in some pretty big games this year. For young players, it's really nerve-wracking, but the more you do it, the better you get at it," Correia said.

"We have our ressies and our youth team all coming through. And there were times in games this year that we had five or six boys who played ressies a year or two years before, and they were on the park with some of the best IPL players there's been. We have a lot of young people coming through and we'll continue to have a lot of young people come through, which I think is the key to keeping the culture right."

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Complementing United's exciting youth are a trio of experienced players who have signed on for 2023.

Correia said it was great signs that captain Danny Lazarevski, Rene Vescio and Ben Brooks would remain at Macedonia Park next season, while adding that the retention of head coach Tsovolos would also be crucial.

"You learn a lot from those experienced players. They've been around, they've played in all of the big games and done everything, so it's good to have those boys like that you can talk to on and off the field about everything," he said. "Playing under Billy was pretty comfortable this year. Going from playing and training with him to him being coach I don't think was much of a big change. All of the boys have a lot of respect for him, we look up to him and he's done a lot of good things."

Elsewhere, Helensburgh have called in the big guns as they ramp up their campaign to play in the IPL next year. Former Sydney FC midfielder Dylan Caton will join the Thistle in 2023, while a group of key District League premiership-winning players - including Vaughan Patterson and Liam Unicomb - have re-signed.

District League grand final winners Unanderra have announced Micheal Garcia will replace Rod Williams as head coach next season.

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