Matthew Leuenberger says he’s put in one of his best pre-seasons in several years, as the Bombers prepare to begin their 2017 campaign.

The 28 year old is about to enter his 11^th AFL season. 

Last year, his first with the Bombers, Leuenberger played 20 games for the season.

He’d played 19 games in the previous two seasons combined and has only bettered the 20 games in a season mark twice throughout his career.

Leuenberger said this pre-season has been his most consistent since the 2010 and 2011 period, where he played 44 games for his former club, Brisbane.

“I’ve done basically all of it, I reckon I missed two sessions which is the best pre-season I’ve had in years,” he said.

“It’s all going well so far. 

“It has been awesome to have all of the boys back who weren’t here last year running around kicking the footy with the younger guys who came on the scene and showed what they could do.

“We’re really deep now, we’re quite a versatile mix – we’ve got speed, we’ve got big bodies and we’ve also got experience. 

“It’s been good fun, there is a good vibe and I think everyone is pretty optimistic at this time of year. 

“We’ll start playing in a couple of weeks and see where we’re at.” 

Fellow big man Tom Bellchambers is in the early stages of his rehabilitation following knee surgery and faces a race against time to be available for the Dons round one clash with Hawthorn.

When the season does get underway, ruckmen across the competition will no longer have to contend with the ‘third man up’ competing in stoppages around the ground.

“I think it obviously puts a bigger emphasis on the rucks and the impact they can have at stoppages,” Leuenberger said. 

“The ball will generally be far tighter, a lot of strategy with third man up is putting it into space … there isn’t too many rucks who spike the ball out into space. 

“Time will tell but I’m happy with it.”