The 2021/22 season saw Stellenbosch FC complete the campaign in a club-record fourth position in the league standings ahead of Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, who finished fifth and sixth on the log, respectively.
Zitha Kwinika, who was named as Stellies' Player of the Season, and Ashley Du Preez, who top-scored with nine goals, were among the club's key performers over the course of the year and their performances soon attracted interest from elsewhere.
It was ultimately Chiefs who swooped to sign both players in deals that saw Kwinika return to the club where he started his career, and Du Preez depart for what has since been reported to have been a record fee received for the Cape Winelands-based side.
Their respective departures come as a blow to Stellenbosch FC who aim to compete with the likes of Chiefs in the league, having done the double over the Soweto giants last season, but came as little surprise given the magnitude of the Amakhosi's standing in the local game.
"Over the years to come, we want to become a club that shows a level of consistency at the top end of the table whereby your threat of losing players becomes less because you are as competitive as the bigger clubs are seen to be," Barker tells snl24.com/kickoff.
"We are hoping that, in future, an Ashley may see more prospect of winning things here as opposed to going to Kaizer Chiefs. As you know in our country though, kids grow up supporting Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. They are the clubs they support and want to be at.
"Had Stellenbosch FC been here 15 years ago, maybe Ashley would have never been a fan of Chiefs and never wanted to go there, but because it wasn't the case, he always aspired to play for them. It becomes difficult to hold players back when they have those opportunities.
"To be true to ourselves, part of the values here is that we want to develop and provide opportunities to players from the greater Winelands area. So, for us to have a player like Ashley have the potential to go and increase his earning capacity and play for a bigger team, we hope that has a positive effect on his community and his direct family.
"We are proud to be that but we are also mindful to ensure that it doesn't become a playground for big clubs to say, 'Well, their development is good, they coach and develop players well so we will just hand-pick who we want.' We won't be allowing that but, strategically, at the right time...
"In Zitha's case, he had a year left on his contract which made it a bit difficult and again, his boyhood club was Chiefs and he had his development there. So yes, we've lost two big players – the one won our Player of the Season and the other came second and was our top goalscorer – but it happens in football.
"As a club we just have to keep thinking in advance and not arriving unprepared at the next window when people want out players. We already know there will be interest in certain individuals and it is up to us to plan for that eventuality.
"I am hopeful in the years to come... players from Chiefs will want to come here rather." - Steve Barker
"But... I am hopeful in years to come that we will be doing well in the league and competing in Africa and maybe players from Chiefs will want to come here rather."