While interstate and international recruiting can be a hit and miss affair, City coach Lino Sciulli said sometimes you just get lucky.

Never more so than with Jaden Fidra, a Queensland teenager who was the standout performer in Saturday's thrilling opening-round 4-3 win over Clarence Zebras, scoring one, creating another and thoroughly entertaining the Prospect Park faithful.

"He sent a couple of messages to say he was interested and just rocked up - no chasing, no nothing. Right place, right time and a very good player," Sciulli explained.

"That was back in November-December and you could just see that he does all the right things off the ball and his touch never really goes amiss. He's going to get some attention but that's good that we've got players that require attention."

While Fidra has only just turned 18, Albert Amankwaa is a 35-year-old centre-forward and university lecturer who hails from Africa, arrived from Gosnells City in Western Australia and also caused the Zebras plenty of headaches on Saturday.

"He's a well-chiselled, strong guy and he's good," Sciulli explained.

Completing the trifecta of new attacking options was South American Adrian Paez, who replaced Amankwaa after 56 minutes and sparked City's late turnaround with their third goal 13 minutes from time.

With established English striker Dan Smith bagging a brace, Lithuanian Gedi Krusa orchestrating affairs in midfield and the promise of more recruits to come, City's cosmopolitan squad packs enough promise to suggest a lively upcoming campaign with Sciulli happy to be along for the ride.

"We've got some good people here at the moment," he added.

"It's a work in progress and all about keeping them in the right frame of mind when we're not doing well, that's the hard part with this group because they can get a bit niggly sometimes.

"I've learned from last year that wherever we are, if we're one goal down I always feel confident that we'll get that back. Two or three and we're probably out of the game.

"But it was a very good game. For the neutral, the league needs games like that."

Windsor Park will host a meeting of Prince siblings on Saturday with Riverside and Kingborough both keen to bounce back from round-one thumpings.

Tom Prince played 44 games for Olympic, scoring six goals and becoming club captain, before departing towards the end of last season and joining the Lions.

Will Prince has subsequently established himself as something of a clone of his older brother - and indeed father Lynden - looking composed and commanding in central defence.

On the same day that Tom debuted in the Lions' 4-0 loss to Devonport, Will started for Alex Gaetani's side across the capital in a 5-0 loss to champions Glenorchy.

"Positionally and the way they look they are the same but I actually think there's a big difference between them," Gaetani said.

"Tommy is exceptional in aerial contests but I think Will's aerobic capacity is stronger. He's fast and he's fit. In our club time trial at the start of the season only Fletcher Fulton finished ahead of him. There's a big age difference between them but Will can be as good as Tommy and he's in our best 11 for sure. Being 17 he's still got a lot to learn and it's a big ask to play centre-half in this league but he has all the attributes."

Olympic will field a vastly different team from round one with co-captains Will Humphrey and Dan Nash set to come in. Humphrey and Ryan McCarragher both tested positive to COVID and missed the trip to KGV leaving just two outfield options on the bench.

One of them, Will Milner came on after 11 minutes when new recruit Jack Carter picked up a knee injury and the former South Hobart and Taroona midfielder remains in doubt for round two.

Nash, who was unable to travel south on Saturday due to impending fatherhood so dropped back into the Northern Championship, should return in goal in place of new recruit Ari Johnson.

Brazilian Isael de Carvalho and Japan's Kosuke Mizuno are in line to make their home debuts with Rwandan international Jean-Philippe Rutabayiro pulling on the orange for the first time.

The 27-year-old Canadian citizen arrived from Spanish side Sociedad Deportiva Lenense on Monday.

"He will start in central defence," Gaetani added. "He has amazing pedigree in terms of where he has played previously."

In other news from around the league on the opening weekend, former Olympic teammates Max Reissig and Aaron Kidmas both claimed assists on debut for Devonport.

Having played his junior soccer at Launceston City, Reissig moved to Riverside where he made 31 NPL appearances, establishing a reputation as a cultured defensive midfielder or centre-back more than happy to roam upfield and launch attacks. He started in defence in the Strikers' 4-0 win at Kingborough, alongside such experienced performers as Kieran Mulraney and Raph Reynolds, and set up the visitors' third goal two minutes after half-time.

Kidmas, whose time at Olympic was best remembered for a late winner in a derby win at Prospect, played 77 minutes in midfield which included setting up Strikers' second goal, while former Launceston City striker Yasin Mohammadi played the last 19 minutes after coming on for Joel Stone.

With Northern Rangers stalwart Nick Lanau-Atkinson playing the last nine minutes and former Launceston United talent Fahim Moradi among the Strikers' squad, coach Tom Ballantyne completed a quadrella of players from Launceston's four clubs.

Meanwhile, Jez Kenth's Kingborough saw another ex-City striker, Noah Mies, make his debut after a spell with Newcastle Olympic.