North Queensland Fury coach Ian Ferguson is keen to get down to business and sign star players. Knowing that on-field success is of major importance, Ferguson wants to put together a most competitive outfit to tackle their first season in the A-League head-on.

Ferguson's first coup was Newcastle Jets captain and Socceroos defender Jade North but he knows he needs more.

"He is a fantastic player, he is one of the top players in the A-League and we are delighted to get him,'' Ferguson told Fox Sports.

"We were pretty pleased at how Jade put himself out there and showed that he wanted to come here and that was a big part on obviously getting him here.

"I think we just need to get a competitive team out there and see how we are going in the first year.

"We have to find our feet - everyone is going to be four or five years ahead of us.

''We are actually in negotiation with two or three players just now and in the coming weeks we will be able to announce them,'' Ferguson added.

"There are a lot of players that I am looking at just now. Wayne (Srhoj) is obviously a quality player, again any team would have him in their A-League team, and he is one that we would definitely be interested in if he came available.''