Do we need a new captain?

[AM]

Selecting a skipper who you aren’t confident will get a game every week would be, to put it politely, unwise. Not to mention especially embarrassing to him if he was to be dropped. Unless the match committee is confident Linga will be in our best team week-in-week-out he won’t get the nod IMHO. I’d like to think we’ll be looking to the future, which would mean Selwood as captain and Bartel as vice captain. And leadership is not only an issue but a crucial one.

 

[vealesy]

Selecting a skipper who you aren’t confident will get a game every week would be, to put it politely, unwise. Not to mention especially embarrassing to him if he was to be dropped. Unless the match committee is confident Linga will be in our best team week-in-week-out he won’t get the nod IMHO. I’d like to think we’ll be looking to the future, which would mean Selwood as captain and Bartel as vice captain. And leadership is not only an issue but a crucial one.

Forgotten Harley already?

If younger guys are pushing Ling out of our best 22, then I can't see why its unwise at all. More pressure on Ling would ultimately make him work harder. And he's still on of our best by foot towards the goals.

Our best side should always be a week to week selection process, nobody should be guaranteed a game every single week.

And if we were looking to the future, like you said, why wouldn't you have Bartel as captain instead of Selwood?

 

[Pure_Ownage]

"At the end of the day", if Lingy is fit and useful on the ground, he is our best leader. If he loses more form and fitness than this year and gets dropped, we have others that can do the job, so not really an issue.

But it is an issue.

Captains don't get dropped, yes they don't play when they're injured, but they virtually never get dropped, at our club or any other. The captaincy IS a guarantee of selection. Do you seriously think Brad Johnson would have been picked for most of the games in 2010 if he wasn't captain? Of course not. He wasn't in the best 22, but he was picked because he WAS the captain. Now I'm not saying Ling's in anywhere near as bad a state as Johnson was, what I am saying is history says if he remains captain, he will play every game next year unless at some point he drops himself, history says he won't be dropped, which means it is an issue.

No one's disputing that Ling's our best leader. If the captaincy had no relationship to selection, then this wouldn't even be a discussion, because Lingy's the heart and soul of the club, and a wonderful leader, and our best leader. But the reality is the captaincy does guarantee Ling will be selected every week, and given how much his body is slowing down as we saw this year, that is very dangerous a game to play when he is borderline best 22, on that I totally agree with Ammo.

He will remain captain, when I heard Scott say it would be a group decision I knew that, because his peers won't vote for anyone else while Ling is the best leader, but really for the sake of the integrity of selection, Ling should do the right thing and pass the captaincy along to someone else. It's hard to hear, and it's hard for me to say, but it really is what should happen.

 

[Vdubs]

But it is an issue.

Captains don't get dropped, yes they don't play when they're injured, but they virtually never get dropped, at our club or any other. The captaincy IS a guarantee of selection. Do you seriously think Brad Johnson would have been picked for most of the games in 2010 if he wasn't captain? Of course not. He wasn't in the best 22, but he was picked because he WAS the captain. Now I'm not saying Ling's in anywhere near as bad a state as Johnson was, what I am saying is history says if he remains captain, he will play every game next year unless at some point he drops himself, history says he won't be dropped, which means it is an issue.

No one's disputing that Ling's our best leader. If the captaincy had no relationship to selection, then this wouldn't even be a discussion, because Lingy's the heart and soul of the club, and a wonderful leader, and our best leader. But the reality is the captaincy does guarantee Ling will be selected every week, and given how much his body is slowing down as we saw this year, that is very dangerous a game to play when he is borderline best 22, on that I totally agree with Ammo.

He will remain captain, when I heard Scott say it would be a group decision I knew that, because his peers won't vote for anyone else while Ling is the best leader, but really for the sake of the integrity of selection, Ling should do the right thing and pass the captaincy along to someone else. It's hard to hear, and it's hard for me to say, but it really is what should happen.

Hope you read all my previous posts on this as I feel strongly that Ling on 2010 September form should have retired. But possibly he had serious foot concerns so should be given the benefit of doubt. So we wait and see the preseason. Lingy did kick the goal that wasn't against Saints, but to me has been a liability. I just don't rate the importance of a nominal captain that highly as plenty show leadership, and the greatest example for me is Chappy. Surely he is our most inspirational leader, yet is not even in the so called leadership group.

Harley was hardly a motivating player as captain in 09, but remained captain, while others did the real work on field. And that I don't want with Lingy.

So ok, you talked me into it, it still is an issue

 

[AM]

Forgotten Harley already?

If younger guys are pushing Ling out of our best 22, then I can't see why its unwise at all. More pressure on Ling would ultimately make him work harder. And he's still on of our best by foot towards the goals.

Our best side should always be a week to week selection process, nobody should be guaranteed a game every single week.

And if we were looking to the future, like you said, why wouldn't you have Bartel as captain instead of Selwood?

I'm a huge fan of Jimmeh and if the mood for generational change - and let's hope that exists - places him at the top of the match committees list I'm cool with that. I just don't see the same leadership qualities in him as I do Selwood. However, I recognise that because Selwood is a much more intense character than Jimmeh that may have the potential to adversely affect his game.

As for Harles, at the time he was picked as skipper he was considered an integral part of our back half. Certainly he struggled late in his last year, due in part to injury, but that wasn't the point at which the captaincy was under consideration. No elite side would choose a player at the beginning of a season as skipper if there were serious doubts about his capacity to hold his place in the team.