Twelve months down the line and with the new Championship season just days away, the primary aim for the striker is unchanged. And it's shared by his teammates in the [Boro](http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/football/middlesbrough) dressing room.
"It goes without saying, we all know what we want to achieve," said Conway.
"We’ve not really spoken a lot about our expectations for the season. But the size of this football club means that we should be playing in the Premier League.
"Everyone knows their role to try and make that a reality, but it’s not something we speak about all the time.
"It’s silly at this stage because you’ve got to take it game by game. But everyone is aligned and in the back of our heads, we all know what the goal is."
**RECOMMENDED READING:**
Conway brought pre-season to a close with a couple of goals, bagging a double in the weekend draw with Deportivo.
The 22-year-old scored 13 goals last season in an impressive first campaign at the Riverside, and will be a major player for Rob Edwards this season. Indeed, as things stand he's the only senior striker on the club's books.
That is likely to change before the end of the month, with Boro prioritising the signing of a centre-forward in the remaining weeks of the window.
But the prospect of fresh support and competition isn't something that Conway has thought too much about.
He said: "It shouldn’t matter who’s linked and who is or isn’t in the building. It comes from within us as players to have the right attitude and to want to work hard.
"At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who you have on the pitch, we all want to do well for each other, for the club, for the staff and for the fans.
"Yeah, we may need a few bodies in to help us. If that comes, it comes; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. We’ll be the ones putting it right on the pitch every Saturday and we’re all looking forward to the season now. Hopefully we can achieve what we want to achieve."
The Scotland striker certainly won't be short of confidence going into the Championship opener against Swansea City.
“Personally for me, that was a really good way to end pre-season, getting the two goals," he said.
"As a collective, it was another good performance, but we know there is still plenty to work on. But everyone in there is buzzing for next weekend now.
“I do enjoy pre-season because you’re doing double sessions and you’re in with the lads that bit longer. You’re having a good laugh and a joke. But of course, in the back of your head, you’re always looking ahead and looking forward to that first game. We just can’t wait to get going now."
Conway has also enjoyed getting to grips with the demands and preferences of new boss Rob Edwards.
"For me personally, I feel like this way of playing has got me feeling like I’m physically at my best heading into the new season," he said.
"Then, as a team, I think we’ve been top and we’ve been learning every day. We’re learning and improving our implementation of the new style more and more each day.
"But we know we’re not finished with that learning. We need to keep going to get to where we want to. But I’m full of optimism we can get to where we want to this year."