Grilled eased back into the top half, in the process collecting their best ever S-League points total of 27. Unfortunately, that was two adrift of both Herron and United Warrior Team, who both ended up on 29. Grilled defeated the Warriors twice, but could only share the spoils with Herron both times they met, and that ultimately proved the difference.

It was a season of few changes, with the only prominent addition being American goalkeeper Brad Beckman, understudy to Ahmed Abed-Sulaiman in Ahmed's final season with the Birds, after the increasingly injury-prone Egyptian suffered a horrendous injury early in the season against the Warriors. Dimitri Simon left for Turkey after a dispute over playing time, but otherwise Grilled were settled and playing some good football.

The loss of their charismatic skipper proved costly as Beckman promptly leaked five goals against Rapala NC in his league debut, though Grilled somehow managed to salvage a draw through Rotteveel's magic. A credible showing in a tough 2-2 away draw at Herron was followed by a Cup knockout by Division Four cantonat, and the fans understandably prayed for their captain's return.

Hopes were again raised as Grilled cobbled together a couple of wins, but a trio of near losses, twice against Chemistry and then against TTTNW, arguably destroyed any hopes of taking the championship. Sulaiman's return against Shingen's Marauders was with great relief, and he proved his worth by guiding Grilled to four wins and a draw in the final five matches. However, that wasn't enough to bring Grilled their first S-League title, and the 36 year-old Sulaiman would move to Latvia without managing the biggest Singaporean prize of all.

Grilled at least had a ready-made leadership replacement in waiting, as Singaporean ex-international Han Lik-Tsun had won the respect of his teammates with his unassuming but solid presence at the back.