Essendon VFLW star Hayley Bullas says external doubts about the Bombers’ ability to make a splash in their second ever season are “rubbish”.

The young squad features a plethora of fresh faces this year and with an inaugural season under its belt, Bullas says the team can show plenty of further improvement in 2019.

“People keep harping on about last year and how we lost, wondering about how we’ll go this year and saying we might not win too many games, but that’s rubbish to me,” Bullas said.

“This year we have so many new girls and new faces and it’s exciting. Last year is last year, this year is this year.

“Our foundations are already so much better than what we had at the end of last year, so I’m just so excited to build on that.

“We have great new staff as well and we have so much support and belief. It’s awesome, I’m really excited for the season.”

The Bombers were kept to just one win last year, but the signs were positive for the inexperienced side that often had to face AFLW-affiliated line-ups stacked with senior talent.

While that challenge remains this year, the team is confident they can take it up to the best sides this time around and new skipper Courtney Ugle echoed Bullas’ sentiment.

“The fact that it’s a new group, including the coaching staff, is the most exciting thing,” Ugle said.

“We’ve had such a long and tough pre-season, it definitely tested us mentally and physically.

“Just to see the growth from five months ago to now is very exciting and having the practice matches over the last couple of weeks, a lot of players have really stood up and shone.

“I’m super excited to see what we can bring and I have full trust and faith in our coaching staff, their vision and what they believe in.

“If we take into play what we’ve been practicing, then we’ll be more successful on and off the field.”

Bullas will be one of two vice-captains beside Ugle this year in a new-look leadership group that also features ruck Simone Nalder, experienced defender Kirby Hicks and Canadian Bomber Kendra Heil.

Bullas said she gained a lot as part of the inaugural group under departed former captain Lisa Williams last year as she continues to develop her own leadership.

“It’s been awesome coming back in and having new people in the leadership group too, we’ve had a lot of players who have gone to other clubs and stepped away,” Bullas said.

“‘Willow’ was so good to look up to and I’ve taken so many qualities from her that I aspire to be like and want to bring in again this year, and there’s so much more that we want to do and build on from last year.

“I wish she was back again this year, but there’s so much to take from her and so much to learn from ‘Uges’ now coming in.”

GALLERY: 2019 VFLW JUMPER PRESENTATION

At just 22 years of age, Bullas and Ugle are two of the bright new stars of women’s football and the former said it is valuable to have youth sharing the key leadership positions.

“I’ll be taking different values and qualities from different people and I think it’s really important for a leadership group to have so much versatility, and we have that within our group.

“We’ve got some mature-age girls who have really paved the way for women’s football and are bringing that through, and we’ve got us younger girls who are still learning and gaining knowledge from them.

“But I think we have stuff to teach them as well, so it’s good to have that dynamic.”

Bullas was a star for the Bombers last year, claiming the inaugural best and fairest and being named in the VFLW Team of the Year.

Bullas competes for the ball at Windy Hill last year. (Image: Ben Johnstone)

Contested ball is the young gun’s strength and she displayed that throughout the season with countless bone-crunching tackles and through her constant attack and grit in the contest.

While her main aim is to simply enjoy being a part of the club again this year, Bullas said adding more speed, flare and efficiency to her game are some specific goals for 2019.

“I want to enjoy this season. I really enjoyed last year and I want to bring that again this season.

“At the same time, I want to get my disposal efficiency up to scratch and make sure that alright. I also want to take a bit more grass and be a bit quicker as we want to be a faster side this season.

“Hopefully I can bring that into the game and be a bit more exciting.”

The Bombers’ season will kick off next Saturday against Casey Demons at Windy Hill from 11:30am.