Is it a problem that our captains had minimal impact in the club's best and fairest this year? Kizza scraped in at 10th and Macca didn't feature in the top 10. Macca has injury as an excuse but his form has been ordinary - even Tom Harley acknowledged so much when he specifically commented that a lot of Macca's value is in directing the play. I don't think you have to have your best player as captain but as a rule you want a captain to lead with their actions and not just their pointing/directing the play. It would probably be too precipitate to dump both of them but I think it might be time for Macca to step back and someone else to take his place, mostly because he is older than Kizza and his form is more questionable. Who the replacement might be, is a tough call. I think it would have to come from the leadership group but there are a few possibilities and none of them is standing out to me as being the perfect one for right now although any of them might well do a great job.
The person that I think leads best with their actions is Joey.
Buddy has shown excellent leadership this year. He makes a point of getting involved when the chips are down and trying to influence the game. I also think he specifically does actions on-field to try and lift team morale and to rally the team, show we're up for the fight and won't be intimidated etc. which I really like. Plus a few of the younger players have made a point of saying how good he has been at mentoring them (both forwards and defenders: Papley, Hewett, X, Aliir). Still, the fact that he is relatively new to the club and also (maybe??) that he is a forward, may count against him. Plus he has the respect of the playing group as seen in him winning the Players' Player award for 2016.
Parker has a great captain's aura and is tremendously respected (as evidenced by him being voted the AFL's most courageous player the past two years' running). I think he has a hard side that may be an asset in a captain, more like Selwood or Hodge than the other contenders. I believe he will be captain sooner or later. Maybe his lack of seniority (at least relative to Joey and Hanners) could be raised but youth and inexperience hasn't prevented players like Marcus Bontempelli and Zach Merritt doing a great job when they got the chance this year and they are much more junior than Parker.
Ramps is brilliant and has lived up to every bit of responsibility thrown his way and taken on more for himself. He is a classy guy and we could do a lot worse than him. Perhaps he doesn't have enough seniority. But he is local, in case that is important.
Hanners should be in the conversation but I'm not sure if he gets my vote. He certainly also leads with his actions, a lot like Joey. He will be around for a long time and is very likely to remain one of our best players which counts in his favour.
Reg and Smooch could do it but perhaps are content being the leaders down back? I think Reg only joined the leadership group in the past season and it took him out of comfort zone. That said, he did a magnificent job. He has grown into the role and perhaps can grow further.
Do others agree it is time for change? Any thoughts on who the new captain should be or if we should only have a single captain? Anyone reckon we should change them both? I'm pretty sure somebody else has already suggested that Macca should be replaced as captain but I don't remember who it was and anyway I figured might be worth having a thread devoted to this topic.
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Originally Posted by CureTheSane
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