Rather than attempting to emulate his celebrated predecessor Joel Selwood, new Geelong AFL captain Patrick Dangerfield has been inspired to embrace change.
Dangerfield assumes the captaincy of the membership he supported as a boy boasting a glittering CV which features a Brownlow Medal, a premiership, 4 membership finest and fairest awards, eight All-Australian guernseys and the presidency of the AFL Players Association.
He does so clear within the data that the membership does not anticipate him to repeat Selwood, or different nice leaders of the previous like Michael Voss, who made such an impression on present Cats coach Chris Scott in the course of the Brisbane Lions’ triple premiership run within the early 2000s.
“It’s moving with the times as much as anything,” Scott mentioned on Monday.
“It’s a big mistake to look back and say ‘hey, Michael Voss was a great leader. What made him great? I’m going to try and copy that and see if I can be, at best, a B-grade copy’.
“It’s a bit bit the identical with Joel.
“The worst thing that you can do when you’ve had a really great leader is just to try and imitate everything because you just won’t do it as well.
“The alternative we have is to take a look at the place we’re on the time and act in a means that represents who we’re on this second.”
In Dangerfield and vice-captain Tom Stewart – who cut their teeth respectively at local clubs Anglesea and South Barwon – the Cats now have two genuine home-grown products as their official on-field leaders.
“It’s in all probability a constructive factor as a result of we’re actually strongly linked in that sense,” mentioned Dangerfield.
“I nonetheless keep in mind coming to video games, standing on the Moorabool St aspect of the bottom on a milk crate watching Peter Riccardi and now we’re taking part in with, and Chris is teaching, his son (first-year participant Osca Riccardi).
“It’s pretty special in that sense.”
At 32, Dangerfield assumes the skipper’s armband at a a lot totally different stage in his profession than Selwood, who was simply 23 when he changed Cameron Ling forward of the 2012 marketing campaign.
As such, it is way over a platitiude when he says he’ll be be taking it one 12 months at a time.
“We’re not looking any further ahead than what we can achieve this year,” Dangerfield mentioned.
“It’s not about going back to back; it’s a completely different group to last season.
“It’s how we will put together ourselves and provides us the very best shot of profitable the 2023 premiership cup.
“I dare say this year from us you’ll hear less about back to back and more about what’s in front of us.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
