Essendon players have been unaffected by Michael Hurley's club suspension ahead of Friday's NAB Cup clash with West Coast at Subiaco Oval, according to Heath Hocking.
Hurley has been suspended by Essendon for the NAB Cup or Challenge campaign after his altercation with a taxi driver last September that saw him charged with assault. Hocking, 22, believes it has had no impact and the players are happy with how the club has handled it.
"Michael Hurley is obviously disappointed with the outcome of it all, but the club has moved through the issue pretty well and the players are behind it," Hocking said.
"We're pretty much just looking forward to the game against West Coast now. It's been put in the club's hands and we are just looking forward to this game."
The 2010 AFL season will be the first in 15 years that will not feature an Essendon forward-line based around retired champions Scott Lucas and Matthew Lloyd and Hocking is looking forward to seeing a new-look forward-line begin to emerge
The recruitment of 2008 Hawthorn premiership forward Mark Williams is expected to help offset the loss of the Bomber champions.
"It will be different from last year obviously losing the two big fellas, but we've got a new recruit in Mark Williams who should give us some experience and leadership down there. It will be exciting to watch," he said.
"He (Lloyd) was a big focal point for us, but adding Mark Williams and his experience will hopefully make the impact a lot less notable. We've also got up and coming young blokes like (Scott) Gumbleton and (Jay) Neagle coming through, so hopefully they can fill his shoes.
"It's a really exciting time for the club and forward-line. We are exciting and run the ball pretty quick, and he's an experienced forward so he will mould to how we play and should relish from it."
The Bombers will be without Gumbleton, Hurley, Jason Laycock, Brent Stanton and Neagle for Friday's game with the Eagles and while West Coast will be near full-strength, Hocking is confident Essendon will be able to perform strongly.
"We're excited about the game. Obviously we've lost a couple of players, but the players that are coming into their spot are going to play as well as they can. We're just excited to see how we've come from six months of preparation and what we've learnt from last season," he said.
"We feel we've got a good team in and we know we're playing a strong West Coast side, so we want to see where we're at and where we've come from last season. We've been concentrating on our game and what we have to do, but probably 20 of their best 22 are in so will just have to come out and play hard early."
Hocking is also looking forward to seeing a host of youngsters pull on the Bombers jumper for the first time including Christian Bock, Travis Colyer and Kyle Hardingham.
"We are bringing in a young ruckman Christian Bock. You will notice he's got a bit of height on him so he will be one to look out for and Travis Colyer is a young exciting player who runs the lines and is very skilful," he said.
"He's adapting well to AFL football and will suit our game plan being a quick young fella. He (Hardingham) is another good young player from WA and he's quick and has good skills, so he'll compliment the side with his skills."