The Royals and Wānaka return to the Southern League and will be joined by Northern, who have been elevated to the South Island-wide league.
After finishing seventh in 2025 with seven wins, five draws and six losses, the Royals have lost a chunk of senior players this season, including Hugh Jack, Tom Milton, En Watanabe and Jack Julian.
Hoever, they have picked up a swag of newcomers in Kazik Swain (Bay Olympic), Rhys Christie (Western Springs), Ewan Whiteside (Nomads United) and Jacob Fielding (Wānaka), while rising players from the Royals academy will be promoted.
Max Davidson steps up as captain and will have experienced stalwarts around him such as Connor Neil and Jed Collings.
"I think if we can, you know, put the hand in the cookie jar and give Max responsibility, I think he’ll thrive off that," coach Blair Scoullar said.
Scoullar felt his side would be a bit "unknown".
"I think it’s going to take us one, to two, to three games to get going.
"We did some good things from last year where the team went seven games unbeaten in the second round.
"We’ve got to build off that kind of momentum where it kind of proved to the lads that are still there that we’ve got potential and they can compete.
"Hopefully, we’re going to play our exciting brand of attacking football this year with the talent we have and really kind of give the club members and supporters something to cheer about."
The Royals have a tough opener away against Christchurch United, who finished second last season, on Saturday.
"We took some points off a very good Christchurch United team last year at home ... we’ll go away confident, I think, knowing that they’re probably a new team as well and that they’re trying to figure it all out."
Wānaka finished eighth in their debut season with five wins, and 13 losses, and also have new blood among the squad this season.
"We’ve been lucky enough to bring a whole heap of new guys into town — both Kiwis returning home from overseas and also a whole bunch of foreigners from Europe, North America and Australia," Wānaka vice-president Ben Wisbey said.
"We’ve actually got a really strong squad. We’re looking forward to seeing how that goes this year.
"Last year was a very young squad ... we’re still relatively young, but not as young as last year, and got a handful of guys who have got a lot of football experience at a reasonably high level."
Among the players to watch are Dutch midfielders Samba Hill and Danny Heemskerk, Australian forward Dillan Kahale and Kiwi forward Wynn Skinner.
Wānaka play Ferrymead Bays at home on Saturday.
"We’re very lucky to have the first two games at home, so that’s always very exciting," Wisbey said.
"We’re very keen to make these first two games a bit of a family day. We're trying to get as many of the junior football community along as possible and hopefully they can enjoy it and become regulars throughout the season."
