If you look in the transfer thread there is a link to the press conference, Ernie's opinion for what its worth is we need two starting defenders, and to create competition across the park so there are no guaranteed starters.
His opinion, however, is the main reason why we aren't competitive is that we didn't have consistency in our combinations, particularly the back line. He said though that good Australian defenders in the A-League are hard to come by.
He also was hopefully that at least one of Riera and Krishna will be NZ citizens, Albert being in NZ for 5.5 years and Roy for 7.