Durban City FC head coach Gavin Hunt has revealed a specific challenge he’s currently tackling at his new club as he prepares for the upcoming season.
The 2025/26 Betway Premiership kicks off on the weekend of 9-10 August with ‘The Citizens’ opening their season with an away tie against TS Galaxy.
The match will take place on Sunday, 10 August at Mbombela Stadium with kick off set for 15:00.
Hunt, who was recently appointed to spearhead the newly-promoted side, says the challenge they are facing is to integrate the players the club retained from last season with the new, experienced top-flight additions, creating a cohesive squad for the upcoming challenge.
Durban City retained fewer than 15 players from their promotion-winning squad, releasing the majority of the group. The club has since welcomed several new players as their recruitment continues.
HUNT ON DURBAN CITY FC TEAM – ‘WE NEED TO GET THE BALANCE RIGHT’
“The challenge is to mix the ones we have and the ones that are coming in and try to get the right balance,” said Hunt.
“The bottom line is results. You can say what you like. But we need to get the balance right and the mixture of the players coming in and the existing players right.
“And the thing that goes around that upsets me a little bit is [when people say] we chopped down everything [released too many players].
“No, we didn’t. I think it’s 11 or 12 [players] that are staying, plus five or six from the DDC. That’s another problem, we need to form a DDC team very quickly because every club has had a DDC team for many years and we haven’t.
“So, you need to form that, and a club of this nature needs a good DDC team. That’s obviously your supply line instead of buying players.”
Furthermore, regarding technical staff changes, Hunt stated they opted to retain assistant coach Pitso Dladla due to his local knowledge in KwaZulu-Natal.
WHY ASSISTANT COACH PITSO DLADLA WAS KEPT
“I’ll keep Pitso. It’s important to work with the locals. He knows the club, the land, and he knows players in KwaZulu-Natal,” Hunt added.
“We’re not breaking down everything. I didn’t know Pitso. I only got to know him last week and a half, and we have worked well together.”
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