It has been far from a smooth ride, but Junee officials remain confident about their return to the Group Nine first grade fold.
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The Diesels start their campaign with a clash against Southcity at Laurie Daley Oval on Sunday.
They are still awaiting the arrival of a large contingent of Fijian players, both on sport visas and through a relationship with the abattoirs, however president David Holt has quashed fears across the group of another late withdrawal.
"We'll have at least first grade and we're trying to build that reserve grade," Holt said.
"Nothing has changed from a month ago, it's just the dates have changed on those imported players."
The strength of Junee has been the major talking point ahead of the start of the season.
However Holt allayed concerns over their involvement, plus that of coach Damion Fraser.
"There were some frustrations about the way things have been going but that has all been sorted out," he said.
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Holt is also pleased with the steps the club has made since this time last year when they pulled out of the first grade season.
He believes they are in a much stronger place.
Now just looking to see more support from players in Junee.
"(Numbers at training are) not real good in the seniors, it's been sitting around the 10 to 15 mark for the last month and that has got a lot of people worried about how the season is going to play out," he said.
"There's a lot of players who have driven past the ground, seen there is not too many people here and they are the blokes who we would like to see stay and have a go.
"The local players are the ones we want."
Despite the air of confidence around the viability of their return to first grade, Junee's reserve grade outfit is in a different situation.
Without the arrival of a host of new players, senior numbers are very thin on the ground.
A decision will be made after training on Tuesday night whether they will be able to field a side against the Bulls.
"Those imported players will really boost our numbers so we will go from there," Holt said.
"At this point of time we are still hopeful of forming a reserve grade squad but Tuesday will be the day we make the call on whether we forfeit reserve grade and just play first grade (on Sunday) and which direction we go in."
However Holt is pleased to see strong numbers in leaguetag, Sullivan Cup and now the Weissel Cup after a bunch of under 18s players from Brothers, who were unable to field a side, made the switch to help complement their numbers.
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