Nick Sculley blogs on the Melbourne Heart for BPL. Click here if you want to join our A-League blog network.

With only one sleep before the red and white army descends on AAMI Park for the first time, it seems an opportune time to sit back and marvel at the outstanding squad that the Melbourne Heart have assembled.

Not only is the squad loaded with internationals, both past and present, there is also a littering of the finest youth Australia has to offer, plus one young Dutchman set to take the A-League by storm!

The historical significance of this inaugural squad is beyond repute. John Aloisi struck the most famous penalty in Australian football history to send the Socceroos to the 2006 World Cup, Michael Beauchamp recently represented Australia in South Africa and of course Josip Skoko kicked the finest goal off the outside of the boot ever seen at the MCG; perhaps a slightly contentious statement in an AFL-mad city.

The poster boys of the Melbourne Heart are well-known; Aloisi, Captain Simon Colosimo, Skoko and Beauchamp, however coach John van't Schip, a former Dutch international and a star in his own right, has assembled a squad with an international flavour that has Heart fans salivating and opposition teams extremely nervous.

Mention the name Gerald Sibon to the average A-league fan and they will greet you with a vacant stare and little else, but this towering Dutch striker; think Peter Crouch without the robot-like goal celebrations, scored 15 goals from 27 appearances last season for Heerenveen in the Dutch First Division. Add to this five Dutch Cup winners medals and three Eredivisie titles with the likes of Ajax and the Heart have themselves a target man to give opposition defences many a sleepless night.

Sibon will form a more than formidable front three, in the best of Dutch traditions, with the likes of Brazilian Alex Terra, Aloisi, young Socceroo Eli Babalj and perhaps the most fascinating member of the Heart's inaugural squad, Rutger Worm.

Prior to joining the Melbourne Heart, 24-year-old Worm made more than 100 appearances for NEC in the Dutch First Division whilst winning 14 youth caps for Holland, scoring three goals. In 2008 his attitude was questioned by NEC manager Mario Been after oversleeping and nearly missing a plane destined for a UEFA cup match in Bucharest. Hopefully the change of scenery can revitalise Worm's fledgling career, in the process leading the Melbourne Heart to success in their first season.

With all these attacking options what hope does the Central Coast have on Thursday night! Bring on the season!