“We have had quite a turnover of players, so in a way we have had to start from scratch but it’s gone pretty well. We have brought a couple of young guys in and some older heads too, so they have mixed in very well,” Woolford said

“There will be no excuses with us, we’re not going to get to mid-way through the year and say ‘It’s going to take time’, or ‘We’re rebuilding’. We have had a good pre-season and while we have lost a lot of quality players, we have brought some quality in and I think we’re ready to go.”

Many of the members of the squad that took down Goulburn last year have either moved on to different teams or  retired from playing football. Although anticipated, the Blues suffered a blow with the retirements of captain Marc Herbert, Ben Nicoll, Trevor Thurling and long-time stalwart Scott Rutland, alongside the choices of Dave Pangai and Tom Ruediger to ply their trade elsewhere for the 2016 season. Despite this, Woolford has strong confidence in the team and commended the leadership qualities of freshly appointed captain Tyler Stevens.

“It’s a considerable chunk of our team gone, and things aren’t going to happen overnight for us but I’m confident we can be competitive and we’ll get better as the year goes on,” he said.

“With Tyler, he knows what we’re about, he knows what we’re trying to achieve and he is one of those guys who is always at the top of his game fitness-wise. He takes a lot of pride in his preparation and came to pre-season at the beginning of January in terrific shape, and it was quite obvious he was looking to take on more of a leadership role with the players we have lost, so it was really an easy choice to make Tyler captain.”   

The Queanbeyan Blues will open season 2016 when they kick off against the Gungahlin Bulls on Seiffert Oval at 3pm.