In his first season as VFL captain, Heath Hocking has set out to be a part of a strong culture as much as a winning team.

The Bombers went into 2018 looking to advance on their sixth-placed finish. With Dan Jordan taking the reigns as senior coach, Essendon got the ball rolling with a thumping round one win against Frankston in enemy territory.

It proved a catalyst for the first half of the season as the Bombers have claimed the scalps of Sandringham, Geelong, North Melbourne, the Northern Blues and Coburg.

Hocking’s side sits in fourth place at 6-3 after round 11 but is preparing for a five-match acid test. Before July is out, the Bombers will test themselves against four out of five teams currently in the top six.

So now is as good a time as any to catch up with the man known as ‘Buddha’ and hear his thoughts…

Do you think we’ve surprised teams with how well we’ve started?

“Probably from previous years, yes. We’ve always been slow to start and finish strong, so I think that was a big focus of ours this year – to start the season strong and then not have to chase wins going into finals. Teams might have been surprised, but we inside the footy club knew that was our aim to be a very strong team early in the season.”

We play four of the other five teams in the top six in the next month and a half. Are we ready?

“I think so. Even though we’ve played some lower teams, the form and the actual way we’re playing can compete with the top teams. We’ve played Geelong and beaten them, so if we can keep playing the way we’re playing, it will take care of itself.

Traditionally, we’ve lost to the teams we should have beaten so this year has been really positive with making sure we actually make statements against the teams we should beat.”

What are the strengths of this side?

“This year, playing the VFL guys has been really positive. We’ve had a lot of first gamers come in, guys who haven’t played much VFL footy and they’ve performed … the way we want to be as a team is that anyone who comes through the team, whether it be the five or six VFL guys playing or AFL guys coming back that they play the same way and contribute to what we’re trying to do.”

You’re a first-time VFL captain and Dan Jordan is a first-time VFL senior coach. How have you and he worked together?

“Just having a really transparent relationship in terms of what he says and what I see, we can communicate. The benefit of me working at the club two days a week is that we can be chatting more than just training nights.

I guess that having a really good relationship in terms of our communication and what we’re both seeing has been a real positive. It’s obviously been challenging, a new role as a footballer, but it’s one I’m really enjoying.”

And the leadership group? How does that work well at VFL?

“Not too dissimilarly to an AFL leadership group. We voted on a leadership group at the start of the year and it was based on players who really committed to the system … it takes a lot of effort to show up on a VFL training night and then play on the weekend, so we’ve got four guys who are there and actually putting a lot of effort into actually helping the team be better and building a really good culture.

When you come into a VFL system you’re enjoying what you’re doing, you’re trying to get the most out of yourself and winning games is really important to that … and that’s what we’re trying to build.”

Which players have really stood out?

“One for me was Jamo Sheahan, a young kid who’s come into the team and he’s contributing really well – he’s played off half back and been that really good link player. Hindy’s stepped up his game as well, he’s really important for us, goes into the midfield and provides that outside run

Hepp (has) been here a few years now and his contributions to the team through the midfield has been important. Danny Younan, that forward work he does, just pressure and now he’s kicking goals – it’s because of his hard work that he’s done through the pre-season, that’s paid off.”

What have been the best moments for you thus far?

“Touching on before with winning against teams we should beat, round one was crucial. Frankston had just come back into the competition, so you would think we’d expect to win that … for the first half, they were pretty competitive with us and it could have gone either way, whether we’d gotten the win by the skin of our teeth or nutted down and dominated, which is what we did.

That was a moment where I thought, ‘This year could be different.’ Touching on training, our Wednesday night trainings have been quite crucial to how we play. We set a standard at training, we train out at Tullamarine, which is a local ground.

The logistics of getting there and then getting back to the footy club, the players have embraced that and going into winter that’s going to be quite important that we’re upping our work ethic going into training.

In general, it’s been a really positive start to the year. To be 6-3 halfway through the season, as I said earlier, it’s something that we as an inner sanctum probably thought was possible but for it to happen is obviously a good moment in itself. Obviously, there’s more work to be done and as a leadership group that’s what we’re working towards.”