This season will be an important building block in the Bombers quest for its next premiership, according to Coach John Worsfold. 

Essendon opens its 2016 NAB Challenge campaign on Sunday against Carlton. 

The match will provide the first glimpse of a new look Bombers outfit featuring some top-end draft picks and some decorated recruits. 

Despite the upheaval over the last few weeks, Worsfold said the Bombers commitment to developing their next premiership side was unaffected. 

“You have to do a lot of work to build a squad capable of winning a premiership and this is part of that program,” Worsfold told SEN.

“I came to Essendon with a view that we could build a squad that over a number of years will be able to finish high up the ladder and challenge for a flag.

“Since the decision we haven’t changed too much – we’re building the squad’s capabilities to become one of the top teams in the competition as soon as possible.

“We’re going to stay focused on that and not worry too much about what the scoreboard says, but (we’re) more focused about how we’re going about things and where we can see improvement and then working on improving those areas.”

One of those areas the Dons may look to improve is in attack.

The side ranked 15^th for goals kicked last season and only Joe Daniher and Cale Hooker kicked more than 15 goals individually. 

“When I arrived at Essendon there was a big focus on being able to score more,” Worsfold said.

“We were very poor in that area last year and we’ve seen that the teams that win flags score pretty heavily. 

“We’ve been building into our program the ability to create a more efficient forward line, so that’s been a big focus but we also want to ramp up our defence.”

Former Essendon Coach Mark Thompson said the Bombers can use this season to get experience into its next batch of stars. 

Darcy Parish – with AFL games under his belt – joining a fresh Jobe Watson and Dyson Heppell in the Essendon midfield in 2017 shapes as an exciting prospect.

Worsfold said he’s planning for the 12 suspended players to return to the Club when they’re permitted to do so.

“We’re really keen to keep the 12 so we’ve got a commitment there to work hard at that,” he said.

“We also understand that all of those guys have the right to make decisions about their careers, but we’re really keen to keep them here.

“My planning at the moment is having those 12 back joining the group with heaps of energy and enthusiasm and hunger to play the game again for the Essendon Football Club.”