Both coach Jamie Gibbs and club president Dave McKechnie conceded the Bears need to perform better this season.

“We had an ordinary year last year performance wise, the As and Bs only won one game between them,” McKechnie said.

“Step one would be to improve on that.”

“Our goal this year is to make finals,” Gibbs declared.

“But to win a game of footy would be nice.”

McKechnie said the club needed to reward the faith shown by their many loyal sponsors and supporters on the footy field.

“We have good supporters and sponsors,” he said.

“We have just got to get better on Saturday afternoons.”

Gibbs said the side had learnt plenty from their difficult season last year.

“We were pretty inexperienced last year,” he said.

“We played good halves and quarters but we couldn’t put it together for a full game.

“We are looking on turning that around this year.”

And this starts at training, according to the man they nickname ‘Bomber’.

“Some of our players haven’t taken their football serious in the past,” Gibbs said.

“If they want to play and be successful they have to work hard and up their commitment on the track.

“So we have upped training this year, we are doing an extra night a week.”

Gibbs said he hoped the extra work would help the club mix it with the competition’s heavyweights.

“The competition is going to be very good,” he said.

“We have to step up.”