Essendon captain Jobe Watson is confident his side can once again emulate the form they showed in the first half of the 2013 season.

The Bombers were sitting in second position on the ladder after Round 17 last season before losing five of their last six games.

Watson said the team’s training throughout the pre-season was basis to have confidence in their ability to improve on their 2013 season.

“I think you gain a lot of confidence based on the way that you prepare yourself to perform,” Watson said.

“I think that what our goals are for 2014 are to do what our goals were in 2013 but to do it better.”

“It is as simple as that, we just want to be better then what we were.”

“We are trying to do that by implementing it in every training session with have been doing, that has been the philosophy of the coaching staff and now is the philosophy of the players.”

Watson said the playing group was getting excited with matches only a week away from kicking off.

The Bombers skipper also commended senior coach Mark Thompson for how he had embraced the role since being appointed in October.

“The one thing with Bomber is that he has experience at being a senior coach and he knows what the requirements are to be a senior coach,” Watson said.

“He knows the effort, the intensity and the commitment that you need so I couldn’t have been more impressed with how he has gone about the role so far.”

“Bomber along with the entire football club is really excited about the 2014 season.”

Watson thanked fans for their ongoing support of the team in the lead up to the 2014 home and away season.

Watson said the entire playing group was appreciative of the support shown during the pre-season by the club’s supporter base.

“We understand how important members are to the club, we have an enormous amount of support, we play in front of great crowds and we have been given a great facility with a lot of that due to the membership.”

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