ANGUS Brayshaw says an injury-free season is his main goal as he starts his 2017 pre-season.

Now entering his third AFL season, the exciting young midfielder had a tough second year, which was interrupted by knee and concussion issues.

“Touch wood, [I’ll] have no more injuries, but with a head as big as mine, you can never guarantee anything. It’s an exciting direction that we’re taking at the moment and hopefully that leads to a few more wins,” he said.

“Who knows [where that will take us], as we’re not looking at putting any limits on ourselves and it’s too early to speculate how we’ll go in the season.

“I think we’re heading in the right direction, if we can keep taking steps on the upwards trend. It’s an exciting season ahead, so I hope it all comes together.”

The 31-gamer – he played 10 in 2016 – said he had an enjoyable off-season break and “recharged the batteries”.

“It’s good to be back. It gets to the point where we’ve trained pretty hard, but you’re mostly by yourself.”

“It’s good to get around the boys again and catch up with all of your mates – some you haven’t seen for a while.

“I trained a lot with Jonesy (Nathan Jones) a lot and he lives just around the corner from me, so he’s a bit of a maniac at training and I jumped on board with him. I’ve been working pretty hard.”

Brayshaw said it was good to have some fresh faces among the group, including recruits Michael Hibberd and Pat McKenna, and Jake Melksham, who has returned from a 12-month ban.

“[Jordan] Lewis will be coming back a bit later with the older guys, but we’re continuing to build a really strong list,” he said.

“Having some guys like Paddy, who gets an opportunity from GWS, and Hibbo (Hibberd) and Melksham, and Lewis especially from the Hawks – there are some experienced players who will come in and add some experience to the team.

“Hopefully we’ll head in the right direction with those guys on board.”

The 20-year-old said not a lot had changed so far since Simon Goodwin took over as senior coach.

“He’s still really involved with the players and gets right involved at training and it’s an exciting opportunity for him and all of the players love him,” he said.

“It’s exciting to see what the season holds for us with him at the helm.”