Being appointed Melbourne captain
AT THE END OF LAST year we lost a lot of experience.
With James McDonald, Cameron Bruce and Brad Miller moving on, we lost 608 matches - and three leaders. And with ‘Junior’ leaving, it meant a new captain would be appointed.
Coming into this pre-season, a process took place to name a new captain.
It all started with the leadership votes and who was going to be in the group. That got voted on by the playing group before Christmas.
It resulted in six guys being named. From there, the process was about narrowing it down to see who was going to be named captain.
The Leading Teams concept, which we brought in a couple of years ago, and is run by Jimmy Plunkett, has been fantastic. We’ve got the motto ‘Whatever it takes’ and had stop, start and keep.
The leadership group got together for about an hour or hour-and-a-half, and worked out who was best to represent us as a playing group. We had that discussion and came up with three guys.
Those three guys were nominated to the coaching staff and board.
From there, it was out of the players’ control.
The process went via the board and coaching staff.
I then found out I was captain on Thursday night - the night before it was announced publicly at the Friday media conference.
Dean Bailey brought the leadership group together and said, ‘We’re going to announce the captain today’. The boys had no idea what was going on.
About an hour later, he got us together and told us who was going to be captain.
That’s how I found out. I immediately had goosebumps and a tingly feeling. I was over the moon and very proud to find out I’d be captain of the oldest football club in the league.
I had plenty of emotions come over me.
It was great to have Jared Rivers, Brent Moloney and Aaron Davey named as vice-captains. They cover the spectrum of the ground, with a defender, midfielder and forward as vice-captain. And then to have the younger guys - Nathan Jones and Jack Grimes - in the leadership group, only complements each other.
We’re all close mates, but we can be hard on each other, which we need to be. And I hope they’re hard on me too.
I want them to give me feedback, because I’ll certainly be giving the leaders and playing group feedback.
Gone are the days of the ranting and raving captain, instead hopefully where I am with my football, I can be like another assistant coach out on the ground. I want to be able to lead the boys with some voice and direction. I want to be able to teach them and help them out on the ground, before the coaching staff picks it up and sends a runner out to them.
That’s the type of leader and captain I want to be.
Most importantly, I want to lead by example.
Hopefully I will continue to do the things that I’ve earned the respect for - not only for this club, but for the AFL.
It’s somewhat of a surreal feeling though. After I got home to my wife Anna and my little boy Oliver, I reflected on the fact that I was captain of an AFL club. I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face.
It really was a surreal feeling.
But once I woke up the next day, I knew the job starts.
I want to be a captain who makes things happen; I don’t want to plod around.
I want to get better, learn things and outsource, by talking to others outside the Club.
I want to take things from other people.
I’m really looking forward to the challenge of it - it’s an exciting time to be around this football club.
I’m really going to enjoy the ride.
AT THE END OF LAST year we lost a lot of experience.
With James McDonald, Cameron Bruce and Brad Miller moving on, we lost 608 matches - and three leaders. And with ‘Junior’ leaving, it meant a new captain would be appointed.
Coming into this pre-season, a process took place to name a new captain.
It all started with the leadership votes and who was going to be in the group. That got voted on by the playing group before Christmas.
It resulted in six guys being named. From there, the process was about narrowing it down to see who was going to be named captain.
The Leading Teams concept, which we brought in a couple of years ago, and is run by Jimmy Plunkett, has been fantastic. We’ve got the motto ‘Whatever it takes’ and had stop, start and keep.
The leadership group got together for about an hour or hour-and-a-half, and worked out who was best to represent us as a playing group. We had that discussion and came up with three guys.
Those three guys were nominated to the coaching staff and board.
From there, it was out of the players’ control.
The process went via the board and coaching staff.
I then found out I was captain on Thursday night - the night before it was announced publicly at the Friday media conference.
Dean Bailey brought the leadership group together and said, ‘We’re going to announce the captain today’. The boys had no idea what was going on.
About an hour later, he got us together and told us who was going to be captain.
That’s how I found out. I immediately had goosebumps and a tingly feeling. I was over the moon and very proud to find out I’d be captain of the oldest football club in the league.
I had plenty of emotions come over me.
It was great to have Jared Rivers, Brent Moloney and Aaron Davey named as vice-captains. They cover the spectrum of the ground, with a defender, midfielder and forward as vice-captain. And then to have the younger guys - Nathan Jones and Jack Grimes - in the leadership group, only complements each other.
We’re all close mates, but we can be hard on each other, which we need to be. And I hope they’re hard on me too.
I want them to give me feedback, because I’ll certainly be giving the leaders and playing group feedback.
Gone are the days of the ranting and raving captain, instead hopefully where I am with my football, I can be like another assistant coach out on the ground. I want to be able to lead the boys with some voice and direction. I want to be able to teach them and help them out on the ground, before the coaching staff picks it up and sends a runner out to them.
That’s the type of leader and captain I want to be.
Most importantly, I want to lead by example.
Hopefully I will continue to do the things that I’ve earned the respect for - not only for this club, but for the AFL.
It’s somewhat of a surreal feeling though. After I got home to my wife Anna and my little boy Oliver, I reflected on the fact that I was captain of an AFL club. I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face.
It really was a surreal feeling.
But once I woke up the next day, I knew the job starts.
I want to be a captain who makes things happen; I don’t want to plod around.
I want to get better, learn things and outsource, by talking to others outside the Club.
I want to take things from other people.
I’m really looking forward to the challenge of it - it’s an exciting time to be around this football club.
I’m really going to enjoy the ride.
