What makes a good AFL captain?
That was the question asked by Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes to Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy as several clubs embark on naming new skippers for the 2023 season.
With Collingwood, Geelong and Hawthorn in the midst of naming a new leader and other clubs weighing up changes, Healy detailed the skills he thinks captains of AFL sides need.
“That is a very good question,” Healy said on SEN Sportsday.
“The elements of leadership are vast, and they mean different things to different people.
“I think just being able to take the club in the direction that the club wants to go (is important).
“Also, somebody who can perform on the field and inspire others to perform in that particular way I think is the on-field stuff.
“I think a great captain is someone who can set standards and get people to improve within their own performance.
“Someone who can take guys who are making mistakes with their off-field stuff and get them to become better.
“It’s not as simple as being the best player in the club, those days I think are long gone.
“(James) Sicily appears the favourite (at Hawthorn) but we don’t know what system they’re going with, whether it’s single captain or multiple captain scenario.”
With North Melbourne recently announcing Luke McDonald and Jy Simpkin as co-captains to replace Jack Ziebell, Healy stated that he doesn’t mind if the leadership is shared even to the extent of how St Kilda had three captains in Lenny Hayes, Nick Riewoldt and Luke Ball under Grant Thomas in 2007.
“I thought Grant Thomas had a really good idea some years ago,” Healy said.
“He avoided the obvious one and on a weekly basis he rotated it to give various people chances to improve in their development as people and as leaders to develop their leadership capacity.
“The ultimate captain does captain anyway, whether he has the ‘c’ to his name or not.”
Speaking from his experience, Cornes explained how Power coach Ken Hinkley demands his captains perform on-field first over all other aspects of the role while adding that some clubs are simply lucky to have clear-cut choices.
“Ken Hinkley came across and we were an absolute rabble at the end of 2012, and he said he wanted his leaders where 90 per cent of their job is to play well on game day,” Cornes said.
“That’s 90 per cent to do the on-field stuff, so play well and consistently and then the other 10 per cent was the other stuff, that was his view on it and everyone has different views on what makes a great captain.
“Sometimes clubs are lucky where they’ve got an instant one, and you can lock them in like a Pendlebury or Selwood for 12 years and away you go.
“Other clubs aren’t as blessed with having that natural captain.”
Collingwood is expected to announce their new captain this week while Geelong and Hawthorn are yet to reveal when their decision will be made.