"We've had a really good pre-season. The boys are bigger, fitter and stronger than what we were last year, so we're in a really good position to really attack the season but we're under no illusion it is going to happen for us. It's going to mean we set ourselves and hopefully give ourselves a chance to be part of September at the end of the year."
BRISBANE LIONS – Jed Adcock
"We had a really good end to last year, so I think the good thing about that is we took it into the pre-season. We didn't go into the NAB Cup with a plan to win it, but I think we got onto a good start and rolled through. It means nothing though if we don't win round one."
CARLTON – Marc Murphy?
"We haven’t talked about the first five or 10 games as a block or set any targets - we've just been focusing on our processes and our game style and making sure we're ready for round one. With a new coach and a new game plan, we're just looking to improve each week. If we get our processes right, no doubt the results will look after themselves."
COLLINGWOOD – Nick Maxwell
"We finished fourth last year. We have added players to the group that we think will make us better. We've got back from injury some guys that we think will make us better. At this time of year it looks good, but there are 17 other teams who are thinking the same way."
ESSENDON – Jobe Watson
"I'm excited about the challenge and our ability to be more consistent. As an individual you always set yourself to play as well as you possibly can. The older you get, you realise the importance of you playing well as opposed to the team playing well starts to change a little bit. And that's where [I place the most importance]: the team being able to perform consistently for the whole year."
FREMANTLE – Matthew Pavlich
Did not attend
GEELONG – Joel Selwood
"We are itching to get into it, maybe because we've had a little bit more time off this year. But we're just really looking forward to the year ahead. For the first time in a long time we've gone out and got some players on board who have played a lot of footy before. We're just ready for those boys to play, and I think they are, and we just want to see where we fit."
GOLD COAST – Gary Ablett
"We've got so many talented players and a lot of them have trained really well this pre-season. They've really taken a step forward in their leadership as well. For us to be a successful side, they need to do that and I'm just excited."
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY – Phil Davis
"For bits last year we could compete, but it was only for little bits. From what we've seen in the longer games [this pre-season], I think we kicked six goals in the last quarter (against St Kilda), which we wouldn't haven't been able to do last year. That's exciting, and the boys are looking a lot stronger and running better so there's definitely good signs."
HAWTHORN – Luke Hodge
"The boys are as eager as they've ever been. All we're trying to do is improve on what we've done over the last two years, and I think we've done that over the pre-season. The guys have trained well, with good intensity. It's a reasonably tough start to the season, but at least we'll know where we're at and whether we need to tweak things here or there. It would be nice to get off to a good start against Geelong."
MELBOURNE – Jack Grimes
"Even though it is just another round, it is also like a final because everyone wants to start the season off well. It shook us up a little bit (losing the opening game last year), but we will be more ready this time around and we won't get blown away."
NORTH MELBOURNE – Andrew Swallow
"We know we can play some good footy. We've got a reasonably tough draw this year, but we're really confident after the pre-season we've had. We got the game time into the guys that we needed to so everyone's fit and raring to go. Apart from 'Boomer' (Brent Harvey) and Scotty McMahon, we should have a fully fit side available for round one, which is exciting."
PORT ADELAIDE – Travis Boak
"We're not putting a limit on anything. We think if we can work a lot harder than our opponents then there's no reason why we can't win the majority of our games. We think we can play finals and we've got to continue to work hard and take the right steps forward. We got a lot of respect to earn back first and that's the way we'll look at it."
RICHMOND – Trent Cotchin
"It's been a really positive [pre-season] - we probably haven't played our best footy but we've got results. That's obviously going to help us with our confidence going into a game that we haven't been quite successful in over the last four or five years. We just see it as another opportunity. They're a great club, Carlton, and there's always a good crowd between us and it's an exciting time to play, and hopefully a couple of our younger guys will get an opportunity as well, which will create even more excitement."
ST KILDA – Nick Riewoldt
On none of the AFL's other 17 captains picking St Kilda to make the top eight - "That's the opinion of the other guys, but that's fine. That's exciting for us. We've got a really big challenge in front of us but I think we're more than capable. It certainly takes a bit of the glare and focus off and we just go about our business."
SYDNEY SWANS – Jarrad McVeigh
"As soon as you get to pre-season, it is full steam ahead for this year. If you keep thinking back we'll go nowhere so it is always about getting better and improving and looking forward to what is coming up in round one, and really looking forward to getting back out there to fight again."
WEST COAST – Darren Glass
Did not attend
WESTERN BULLDOGS – Matthew Boyd
"I think we're going to see a really even competition this year where any team can win on any given day, and some of the results over the NAB Cup have showed that. What we want from our group is constant improvement. Anything less than that would be disappointing. We're not going to put games won on the end of that, but we've got some indicators that we think that if we do them well, we'll be right in games and we'll win more than we did last year."
