A team that wants to move the ball quickly, defends ruthlessly and loves the contest.

That’s the vision for John Worsfold’s 2017 Essendon line-up.

The Bombers Coach outlined his plan in front of more than 500 supporters at the Club’s Season Launch.

“We want to put that all together and be a winning team, it’s about time,” he said.

“We’re ready, but it is going to be tough. No one is going to stand back and let it be easy for us.

“Our aim is to do the hard work in the pre-season, be ready for those tough, uncompromising contests that we’re going to face, put our best foot forward and make our people proud.”

Worsfold said lifting the side’s scoring rate had been a focus over the pre-season.

“We’ve gone out and recruited and developed within and we think can really challenge teams on the scoreboard,” he said.

“We saw the other night that Orazio Fantasia is going to grow as a small forward, we’ve got Travis Colyer, we’ve seen Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Josh Green playing forward, James Stewart from GWS to go alongside the guys that we’ve been building last year as well.

“We want to be a side that moves the ball really quickly into our forward line to make our scoring opportunities even greater and give those guys the chance to do their work.

“That’s the challenge for the rest of the team - the guys in the back half, the midfielders who are going to take risks, move the ball quick, back their skills, back their judgement to get it into our forwards where they can do some work in space.”

Among those midfielders are Jobe Watson, Heath Hocking, Dyson Heppell and David Myers who will bolster the side’s strength around the stoppages.

“We want to be a team that loves the contest,” Worsfold said.

"We’ve got some big, strong midfielders back … who are going to really bring a strong presence at the stoppages for us.

“We’re aiming to love being in a tough, tight contest.”