Coach John Worsfold says a fully-fit playing list will see the Bombers become a more competitive team in 2016.

The team was impacted by injury to some of its key players during 2015, with Jobe Watson, David Myers, Heath Hocking, David Zaharakis, Zach Merrett and Travis Colyer among some who missed a large portion of games.

“The team was hit really hard last year with injuries to key players,” Worsfold said.

“We never really had anywhere near the best midfield out on the park.

“That also meant that there was some development put into some younger players that got games into them that they may have missed out  on otherwise.”

Fans and coaches were given a firsthand look at the future through the performances of players such as Jayden Laverde, Kyle Langford, Orazio Fantasia, Shaun Edwards and Marty Gleeson.

“As much as last year was a tough year, it has set us up for the ability to perform a lot better this year,” Worsfold said.

“I’m very confident people will see that.”

Two new faces today joined the team’s leadership group, with Michael Hurley returning to the group and Mark Baguley joining for the first time.

The Club also confirmed Jobe Watson would Captain the side for the seventh consecutive season, with the playing group identifying him as the player who best fit the criteria of a leader.

“We didn’t ask players to vote on who they wanted to be Captain,” Worsfold said.

“They rated the list on five criteria and we then looked at who led each criteria, but also tallied the toal votes.

“Across that five criteria, the leadership group were the standout players and, obviously, Jobe was a big part of that.”

There has been much speculation as to whether Watson would return as Captain, given his admission last year that he had lost the passion for the game.

“For me, coming in, my say on how the players see Jobe was nil but for me coming in, I  was looking for the passionate energy from Jobe as a leader around the footy club,” Worsfold said.

“I certainly would have challenged him if I had felt thought that he looked weary  and he looked like it was a burden for him.

“I didn’t see any of that.

“All I saw was excitement about the pre-season program and what the squad looks like, so there was never anything for me to say that Jobe shouldn’t be Captain.”