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Cape Town - Highlands Park coach Owen da Gama believes the club learnt from their relegation in 2016/17 by retaining the majority of the squad which got promoted.
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The Lions of the North were demoted from the Absa Premiership two seasons ago after massively overhauling the squad that won them promotion in 2015/16.
However, Highlands bounced back impressively in the previous campaign by winning the National First Division by a massive 19 points to return to the top flight for 2018/19.
As such, Da Gama has explained that much of the squad which earned promotion will compete in the top-flight this upcoming season.
Speaking to Kickoff, the former Bafana Bafana assistant coach said: "We tried to pay tribute to the players that brought us where we are today.
"Every player that played more than five games, he is in the squad, he's got a contract. So we had to start there.
"Secondly, we had to bring a mixture of players with youth, hunger and experience. To bring in the experienced players is a bit of a challenge as we learnt last time when Highlands Park was here.
"Sometimes you don't bring the best players, but the right player. I think in a player like Bevan Fransman we brought the right player (from Maritzburg United)."
