Three of the four foreign recruits for 2012 were on hand for the Red Devils training at Morshead Park, but what struck them most was a roasting Ballarat afternoon.

All three said their main aim for the season was to get the Red Devils promoted out of the Victorian Football Federation State League Two table, but there was no escaping the stifling heat in an intense first training session.

For the trio, it was easily the hottest conditions they had trained under, magnified by the fact they were fresh out of a European winter.

Sean Harding was born in Melbourne but has lived in Ireland since he was five years old and John Duffield has spent winters in Spain and Wales.

Remarkably, Daniel Forlandsaas was still in Norway last Thursday, where the temperature was as low as minus 20 degrees.

All three arrived in Australia last Friday and live together in Sebastopol.

Harding, 23, has been playing Irish Premier League and has even set his sights on potentially cracking into the A-league.

He had been playing in the same competition as head coach Brian Shelley in Ireland and knew he had a great reputation.

“I knew Brian was a top player back home and he was one of the reasons I came across,” he said.

“Hopefully we can put a good season together.”

The Red Devils will increase the training workload to four sessions a week before the home and away season starts, in what will be the biggest pre-season ever undertaken by the club.

Norwegian Forlandsaas said he was relishing the opportunity to play soccer in Australia, although it had already proved very different to his experience back home.

For him, snow-covered football pitches have been replaced by new synthetic turf, which intensifies the heat of the summer sun.

“I’m just hoping to really contribute and aim for promotion. But I’ve never trained in conditions anything like this before,” said the striker.

“If I do well it will help the club do well. At the same time, if the club goes well, it will help me personally.”

And for Welshman Duffield, he hopes to hold down the centre-back position, with his fellow countryman Simon Williams to guard between the posts when he arrives in Ballarat in March.

Red Devils squad trials begin in February.