Forgot JMac. We have missed his cool head down back and as a defensive presence in the middle. As others have hinted at, leadership doesn't come from just the Captain, VC or leadership group. It should be across the board. As a team, everyone should show leadership. If that means getting vocal and encouraging team mates, going in to protect your players, shepherding, bumping blocking or just sticking to your small role, it is a team effort.
In a way, visible on-field leadership from the captain can either be symptomatic of or precursory to the above things not happening. Unfortunately, because their is a systematic lack of leadership in the team, Swallow's more "introverted" leadership style tends to seem ineffective.
Compare the type of leadership that we had in North's glory days vs now. Back then we had the best player to play the game as our Captain, a guy who could lead by example, was egotistical enough to pull any player in our team in line as well as inspire the whole playing group. We also had a vast number of players (Stevens, Bell, Simpson, Harvey, McKernan, Grant, Archer) under him who could have made great captains as well. The third tier of leaders, knew how to play as a team and protect the team - they could also go in and do their job (Pike, Martyn, Blakey, Scholl, King).
We are here comparing Swallow's leadership to some of the best leaders in the game now and of the past. Was the success of the leadership of Carey's North 1993-2001 due Carey's Captaincy, was it due to leadership of the group or a bit of both?