After several disrupted seasons David Myers says he’s excited about footy again.

The strong-bodied midfielder is in full training ahead of the 2017 season.

Myers is entering his tenth year with the Bombers, but injury has restricted him to 85 games.

A shoulder injury sidelined Myers in the opening minutes of the 2015 season.  He made his return against Adelaide four months later but after a promising start that included 22 possessions, a knee to the back ended his game and his season.

“Last year, before the ban mentally I was pretty fatigued.  Then to have the year I had with injury was pretty frustrating as well,” he said.

“To be honest I probably did need the year just to have a chop out from everything and be able to freshen up and reset and come back.

“It’s nice to be excited about footy again so it’s a good feeling.”

Myers didn’t watch too much footy throughout 2016.  The reminder of what he was missing was something he chose to stay away from.

“That was when I found it hard.  Watching footy made you realise you weren’t playing so I avoided footy as much as I could,” he said.

“Now I’m more than willing to get back into it.

“You play footy to win but you play because of your mates.  We’ve all missed our mates and it’s just good to be back around them day in, day out – that’s the best part of the job.”

Myers said he received support from his family, girlfriend and mates back in his native Western Australia throughout 2016, as he focused on study and sampling experiences he otherwise wouldn’t be able to enjoy.

He also said the bond he shares with his nine returning teammates played an important role.

“We obviously leant on each other as a group pretty heavily, being the ones who knew what we were going through,” Myers said.

“As a group of ten, we’re extremely close.

“I was particularly lucky with parents, girlfriend, brother, sister and my best mates back home – they were all fantastic so I’m very lucky that I’ve got good people around me and that made it as easy as possible.”

Myers will add inside grunt to an on-ball division that also welcomes the return of Jobe Watson, Dyson Heppell, Ben Howlett and Heath Hocking.

The young players including Kyle Langford, Zach Merrett and Darcy Parish who enjoyed extended midfield minutes will now have additional hard bodied teammates around them. 

“If you look at all of them, they’re better than they were when we left,” Myers said of his young teammates.

“It’s no surprise really, they’re cracking kids and put a great deal of time into their game so it’s no wonder to me that they’re all stepping up.

“You’re going to fight a bit harder for your spot this year so it’ll be good.”

Myers hasn’t thought too much about that first game back, but knows it will be a significant occasion.

“I’ve got no doubt I’ll be pretty excited and no doubt a little emotional when you finally get back out there playing,” he said. 

“But it’s still footy so when the ball gets thrown up you’ll zone out pretty quickly and just get back into playing so I’m looking forward to that. 

“I just need to keep stringing together training and get through a full pre-season and try and help out the young guys where I can to get them better quickly.

“From there we’ll get into playing and the fun stuff.”