Bucks spoke to the media on Tuesday in the lead up to Friday night’s Round 1 blockbuster against the Western Bulldogs.

Here are the key takeaways from the press conference:

JOIN THE MAGPIE ARMY IN 2021

Week of round one, it’s an exciting time.

• "We're really positive and bullish about what we're capable of and looking forward to getting it started."

The primary focus is about becoming the best we can as a football team. We’ve got the benefit of narrowing our focus and concentrating on key areas of responsibility.

• "We just completed a pretty good session, off a really good week, off a pretty good pre-season and we're looking forward to the possibilities"

Jordan De Goey will play a role in the midfield. Pies fans should be excited by the prospect of a fit and hungry Jordan De Goey. De Goey’s midfield time will be balanced with a role in the forward line, particularly with what is predicted to be an open game style with the lengthened quarters and less rotations.

• "He'll play midfield and forward...blokes like Jordy will find themselves in the midfield, but there will be very few midfielders who will run out the game in there under the parameters that have been set."

Pies to be an attacking side in 2021 with the new ‘stand the mark’ rule planting an attacking mindset in most coaches. Attacking efficiency and how you take your opportunities will be key to where teams finish up this season.

• "The big challenge is the rotations, the length of the game. You're going to end up with a fairly open field...and as much as you prepare your players physically, the demands with the rotations and the intent of the rotations...means there will be a lot more skill error which means there will be a more transition play and opportunity."

Young players have had a strong pre-season including the likes of Ollie Henry. A decision will be made on his potential debut this afternoon.

• "We've been really encouraged by that crop of draftees and new recruits, but I think i've been pretty forward in suggesting we've got to pump the brakes on those boys a bit. Whatever we get from them potentially in their first 24 months is going to be a bonus, but they've been pretty promising."

A squad mentality has been the approach for the season, as players such as Nathan Murphy, Mark Keane, Brayden Sier and Trent Bianco have put their best foot forward to be involved at senior level in 2021.

• "We've got some players that have been in the system for 2 or 3 years...if you listen to the naysayers then there might be enough evidence to suggest there's no growth there, but we don't subscribe to that."

Many areas for growth after multiple players had broken seasons last year, we think there are progressions that come from a full pre-season and proper preparation.

• "My job is to prepare the team to play as good as football as it possibly can, to develop the list and look for our best performances on match day; the players' job is continue to come to work, to improve and to maximise their contribution to that aim."

Steele Sidebottom will be ready for Round 2 against the Blues. While Chris Mayne will play 4 quarters of reserves football this week, as he returns from a concussion during training a couple of weeks ago.

• "He's [Sidebottom] done a couple of runs so we hope that he'll open that up over the weekend and potentially round tow, but we'll see how the next few days looks for him."
• "Mayney obviously copped that knock and missed both of our practice matches...he's physically in really good knick, he's had a really good pre-season but there's timing issues with this as well."

The substitute player is a good idea. Coaches were strong on it being a way to prevent losing a man having a significant impact on the outcome of a match. 

• "The coaches met last week, and we were unanimous with seeing it as a positive, as something that would support fairness and improve performance and execution of the game. We were all concerned about the possibility of if you lost a player early, that with low rotations and high game time that potentially it would have a greater impact than ever to be a man or two down."