The top-tier Hockey Albury Wodonga men were beaten 8-2 and 6-3 by defending premiers Central.

But that is a far cry from last year, when Central towelled them up 13-1 and 12-0 in the home and away season.

Smart said the Spitfires were fitter and better prepared heading into their second Capital League season.

“We are certainly a lot fitter and finished all over them in the second half on both days,” he said.

“And we are getting better with the structures we introduced last year.

“But at this level you can’t switch off for five minutes and in both games that happened and they banged in a handful of goals.

“We were down by six at half-time on Saturday and three yesterday.”

Tony Donnelley will again captain the Spitfires with Ben Allen the vice captain.

New to the squad are Tristan Ferris, Jimmy Ellis, Joel Kellet and Englishman Luc Hinton.

“Last year was a building process, and now that we are fitter, we’re also more composed on the ball,” Smart said.

“And with the new guys we believe we have nucleus of a side that can go a lot further this winter.

“This weekend was the group’s first competitive games together, so we are definitely not disappointed with that start.”