As well as signings to bolster the on-field squad, the Australian Championship has seen the club work hard to improve its off-field game too. South released new home and away kits for the Australian Championship, taking the total number of kits this year to six! That includes the NPL Victoria Home, Away and Third kits, as well as the special Heritage kit released this year.

As a football romantic this seems simply too much for me. My personal view is the more kits a team releases the more it devalues the bread-and-butter annual options. Across other clubs it’s typically resulted in regular Home and Away kits becoming more bland, whilst allowing for additional offering (third, fourth, fifth kits) to ‘jump the shark’. We’ve seen crazy patterns, and rules broken including Chelsea play in Red and Liverpool play in Blue.

Despite that, the new kits are bangers – the Australian Championship offering surpass the NPL Victoria ones design wise and I admit I personally purchased a Heritage kit, so I guess… what the heck to I know?

I guess my point will be to sit on the fence. The kits have been great, but this year is an exception with the new competition. I warn against making too many kits in the future!

Less controversially (at least for me), the other merchandise offering has greatly expanded too and by all accounts has been flying out the store! It’s great to see the club make an effort in this regard, and even better to see the fans pick it up. The highlights from our Moreton City game were all the better for seeing the full grand stand decked out in merch, a solid and beautiful block of Blue.

One specific item to call out is the Hellas World Order top. The reference, I’ve come to learn, is from 90s wrestling. I didn’t realise there was such a big cross over of wrestling fans and Hellas fans but the merch works! It looks great!