President David Evans, coach James Hird and captain Jobe Watson publicly outlined Essendon's vision at last night's Hall of Fame induction night, where Hird was honoured by being named the club's 21st Legend.
The trio was confident the club was heading in the right direction to once again taste success.
"The results of the pre-season have given us great hope and optimism, but much improvement and development is still to come this year," Evans told the crowd at Melbourne's Crown Palladium.
"At the same time, we must be under no illusion of the hard work ahead to achieve the sustained success we so desperately crave. As a result, we will stop at nothing to return Essendon back to the top."
Hird echoed the thoughts of his president, saying the players had taken on board everything the coaching panel had instructed during the pre-season.
"We want premierships, we want success, we want to be the best club in the AFL again," Hird said to supporters.
"I'm not telling you it's going to happen overnight, but you have a very, very committed playing group out there, a group who listens and learns better than I have ever seen.
"They love being part of the football club, and with the players and the coaches, we will improve this football club."
Hird, who captained the club's last premiership in 2000, said the players had taken the initiative to improve their attitude, on and off the field.
"The players have set out to be ruthless, resilient, honest and selfless, and ahead of them in the next six months is the toughest year of their lives," he said.
"I promise you, boys, this is going to be the toughest year of your life.
"But, at the end of this year, at the end of next year, and the year after, hopefully we would have improved enough that we can all say the Bombers are number one again."
Watson agreed with Hird's assessment, saying the tough pre-season had given the players a fresh outlook after a horror 2010 season which saw the club finish 14th and the coaching panel replaced.
"We have worked extremely hard during the pre-season. The disappointment of last season provided a real perspective about where we were at, and how we were received, by the entire football world," Watson said.
"As a football club, we knew what Essendon stood for and as a playing group, we knew absolutely this was not how we wanted to be seen."
Watson also put his teammates on notice that they had to be harder at the ball in 2011.
"Every contest is another battle in the war, and if you're not willing to put your body on the line, and play your role in the team, you won't be wearing the red and black jumper in 2011," the 26-year-old said.
"As a playing group, we are confident we are on the right track and building towards future success."
