Jobe Watson, Alex Morgan, Travis Colyer and Matthew Leuenberger were among the star performers in Essendon’s first time-trial of the pre-season.

Players completed a 2km course around Princes Park with Patrick Ambrose crossing the line first.

Brent Stanton, David Zaharakis, Morgan and Colyer rounded out the top five.

“We’re really happy with how the guys have returned,” High Performance Manager Justin Crow said.

“We had Matthew Leuenberger run a ‘PB’ (personal best), Alex Morgan really blew us away – he’s obviously had a really strong off-season."

Hamstring problems restricted Alex Morgan to ten VFL games in 2016, but the former Oakleigh Charger showed no lingering effects of those injuries during the time trial.

The hard work the returning players put in throughout the year also reaped rewards, with several posting impressive times.

“It was great to see Travis Colyer in the top five, Jobe Watson ran his best ever time," Crow said.

“A few of those guys have really made a statement early.

“We’re being careful with the football and the change of direction but we’ll progress them over the next few weeks and they’re doing a great job so far.”  

Jayden Laverde is the only player on the Bombers injury list at this stage as he recovers from having his appendix removed.

He’s expected to build up his running program over the next couple of weeks.

Players will train as normal throughout the remainder of this week before heading to Cerberus next week for a training camp.