Essendon’s returning players say they’re refreshed and excited about the pre-season ahead.

The Bombers officially started their pre-season campaign on Monday.

The returning players will train alongside the Club’s young players over the next fortnight, before a special Twilight Open Training session is held to welcome back the rest of the playing group on November 22.

“I don’t think the group has ever been this excited for pre-season,” Essendon’s All-Australian defender Cale Hooker told 3AW.

“If we had have come back half way through the season it would have been tough with no pre-season.

“But we’ve got a whole pre-season to get our bodies right and our skills up.

"The thing that I saw and from speaking to the guys is that real hunger that the group seems to have and the excitement from the players and even the staff. 

“If we can feed off that there is no reason we can’t have a good season.”

Hooker won the best and fairest in 2015 after splitting his time between defence and attack. 

“I think the way the game is going it’s good to be able to play a lot of different positions,” he said.

“I’ll be training myself forward and back, even in the midfield a little bit just to give the Coach a lot of good options.

“The beauty with our team is we’ve got some good key position players with some good flexibility.” 

Hooker trained alongside his teammates regularly throughout the year.

Brent Stanton was among that group and the 30 year old said he’s feeling refreshed as he begins his 14^th pre-season.

“I saw it as a way to refresh my mind and body and get into a condition where I can go straight back into training and have some of my best years of football ahead of me,” Stanton told RSN.

“Yes it has been disappointing that I’ve missed 22 games out of my career, but that's only minor in the scheme of things.

“I’ve also been able to put some time into a business that I have in terms of Drummond Golf and (Golf) simulators.  It’s allowed me to better myself as a person and hopefully as a footballer for the next couple of years.

“Coming to the end of my career – we want to get success back to the football Club and that’s been a big part in why I’ve trained so hard. 

“It has been a 12 month pre-season already but it has been refreshing in that I haven’t been knocked around for a whole year.

“My body is feeling pretty good at the moment.  We might do a little bit more than the other guys in the pre-season in terms of the combative stuff just to get our bodies used to it again, but in general it is going to help prolong our careers.”