Worsfold anoints ‘obvious choice’ for captain

Essendon coach John Worsfold says Brendon Goddard is the "obvious choice" for captain in 2016.

“BJ seems to be an obvious choice for the captain,” Worsfold told reporters at training today.

Worsfold also said morale is strong in the group as the players look to move on and remain competitive this season, with around 30 players turning out for training this morning.

“The whole group were all together on Tuesday and spent a lot of time together,” he said.

“I think the morale is pretty strong within the group. The shock and sadness that they feel for each other is real.

“I’ll be focusing on helping these guys grow. My view is that we’re going to be as competitive as possible. We’re going out to win.

“We’ve got the attitude that we’re going to keep training hard and improving.

“They’re pretty motivated and self disciplined guys and know what it requires to be a professional footballer.”

The former West Coast premiership player and coach said that despite losing 12 players to doping bans, the Bombers still have high hopes for the upcoming season.

“It’s possible we don’t win the wooden spoon. We will be aiming above that,” Worsfold said.

“Start with high hopes. As I said, we are going to put so much work into improving ourselves individually and as a group throughout this year because that’s what’s going to have a massive impact for us in the long-term.”