NATHAN Jones says being one of the leaders of the club opened his eyes to understanding that not everything was black or white.

The 2013 vice-captain suggested he wasn’t as empathic to every situation in the past, but changed his tact this year. 

“Before hand, I was always looking for the answer – it was either this way or that way – whereas now sometimes there is grey and you have to here both sides of the story and work out an answer from there,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“In saying that and how that relates is that there are different personalities that you deal with and [you’ve got to] understand your teammates. You’ve got to push the buttons with them, so they respond.

“That’s still an area that I underestimate. I’m not completely aware of it at the moment, but I’m trying to become more approachable and help guys like Jimmy Toumpas and Jack Viney and these younger boys on our list and fast track them.”

Jones said his taste as co-captain, when Jack Grimes was injured this year, was a great experience, but one that didn’t change him.

“It didn’t faze me to be honest,” he said.

“I’m not being disrespectful to the role or anything, but on the day, I didn’t feel like I’d made any difference at all.

“I respect the role the two boys are doing – they’re under a lot of pressure and I feel for them at times. I think people are mesmerised by the whole captaincy and captain.”

In terms of whether Jones would like to lead the club in 2014 or in the coming years, he said he was fully behind incumbents Grimes and Jack Trengove.

He added “what will be, will be now” in terms of how the leadership group will be shaped under Paul Roos in 2014.