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Michael Walters

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D

Dockersman

Senior List
Joined
Sep 29, 2011
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Location
Perth
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
Moto GP, F1
Is Michael Walters part of the leadership group? If he isn't he shoul be. Has proven himself and is showing a lot of off field leadership going by his comments about helping out Josh Simpson. He has become a role model for young Aboriginal players.
 
Dockersman said:
Is Michael Walters part of the leadership group? If he isn't he shoul be. Has proven himself and is showing a lot of off field leadership going by his comments about helping out Josh Simpson. He has become a role model for young Aboriginal players.
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I love Sonny and he is my favourite player but very premature i think.
At present it doesn't look like much positive is happening with yougn Simpson so i wouldn't pat him on the back too much.

Can always be a leader without being in the "official" group as well.
 
Demonstrating leadership over a sustained period is what would qualify a player for a leadership group. Walters is still on that journey, but looking good. Such a bonus ofor us if he can get young Simpson training at the same level that Walters himself has found.
 

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He is turning in to a great leader and has done that by setting a great example on and off the field on how to turn your life around. This doesn't mean that he should or shouldn't be in the leadership group but the more people like that we have in our club then the stronger we will become.
 
Michael Johnson would be the one to take the weight of that responsibility off Walters for as long as possible in that particular role - having been in the leadership group for years now, it would be good to keep that extra aura of responsibility off his shoulders for as long as possible to let him evolve and hone his own game.

No doubt when guys like Pav, Sandi, McPharlin retire - Walters will be one of many in contention to replace them in the leadership group.
 
Sonson have turned out to be a good role model for the young players. If he genuinely wants to help to guide them,he would. Don't really need a "team leadership" name tag for him to do the job. Can even be a distraction sometimes.

I think everyone here recognized Sonny's progress. It'll be great if he can help bring Josh up to the same level.
 
Nickos66 said:
Michael Johnson would be the one to take the weight of that responsibility off Walters for as long as possible in that particular role - having been in the leadership group for years now, it would be good to keep that extra aura of responsibility off his shoulders for as long as possible to let him evolve and hone his own game.

No doubt when guys like Pav, Sandi, McPharlin retire - Walters will be one of many in contention to replace them in the leadership group.
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Johnno has not been in the leadership group since 2010.


And also, I would argue that the extra responsibility can in some cases, spur an individual on to greater achievement. I reckon Son Son is at the perfect stage of his career to consider a role in the leadership group.
 

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Schauermann said:
Don't really care for an offical leadershipgroup. I think most players will lead anyway when capable of leadership...
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+1

Find it extremely pointless. Even vice captaincy is a pointless title, as far as I know it's only a position for the event the captain isn't playing and VC needs to toss the coin.
 
riteo said:
Find it extremely pointless. Even vice captaincy is a pointless title, as far as I know it's only a position for the event the captain isn't playing and VC needs to toss the coin.
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I am ok, with vice captaincy. Captain for coin toss and as spokesperson of playing group. One vice is probably needed.
 
Even the captaincy is a bit pointless in football. It's not like it's cricket where the captain makes important decisions. All a football captain can do is try to play his best just like everyone else.

And by putting half the team in the "leadership group" it even makes the prestige of the position pretty meaningless. I find the whole concept a bit ridiculous personally.
 
pokerspiv said:
Even the captaincy is a bit pointless in football. It's not like it's cricket where the captain makes important decisions. All a football captain can do is try to play his best just like everyone else.

And by putting half the team in the "leadership group" it even makes the prestige of the position pretty meaningless. I find the whole concept a bit ridiculous personally.
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I think you are selling the role short.

A captain's impact is felt on and off the field. A skipper is effectively a conduit for his teammates and the club management.
 
Yeah, nah. I don't see any real difference. An inspiring act of courage is inspiring whether you are the captain or not. Apart from that, what does the captain of a football team actually do? Sweet FA. The role has always been purely symbolic. An expanded "leadership group" even more so.
 
pokerspiv said:
Yeah, nah. I don't see any real difference. An inspiring act of courage is inspiring whether you are the captain or not. Apart from that, what does the captain of a football team actually do? Sweet FA. The role has always been purely symbolic. An expanded "leadership group" even more so.
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Its a group of young men, essentially a gang. Like the army.
In any group like this you will have natural leaders and natural followers, people of varying intelligence and maturity. Those who are natural leaders will be looked up to and their behaviour emulated by the younger follower types.
Hierarchies will form in any group whether officially recognised or not.
If you have leaders, whether by natural selection or anointed with official titles whose values exemplify those you wish to portray to the younger men looking for role models you are half way toward establishing the elusive winning culture sports teams aspire to.
It starts on the playground and continues into the boardroom and everywhere else. Its real.
 

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In any group like this you will have natural leaders and natural followers, people of varying intelligence and maturity. Those who are natural leaders will be looked up to and their behaviour emulated by the younger follower types.
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That's my point exactly. You don't have to have (c) under your name to display leadership, and having (c) under your name doesn't make you a better leader. The role in football is purely ceremonial, unlike cricket where the captain actually makes strategic decisions.
 
pokerspiv said:
That's my point exactly. You don't have to have (c) under your name to display leadership, and having (c) under your name doesn't make you a better leader. The role in football is purely ceremonial, unlike cricket where the captain actually makes strategic decisions.
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Sure, but just like in the army you pin badges of rank to those people to give them official authority.
I do take your point but I doubt we will see any team without a captain any time soon.
 
pokerspiv said:
That's my point exactly...... The role in football is purely ceremonial, unlike cricket where the captain actually makes strategic decisions.
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I actually disagree.

AFL leadership amongst players is more like mentoring/role-modeling than in cricket where it is as you say strategic and a critical facet of the play. But it is till not as simple as ceremonial in my books.

And anyway, if you don't think Pav trains for the coin toss I think you could be surprised; Any thoughts from those who attend the training sessions re this are welcome. I fully expect he goes a couple of rounds of two-up at the end of every session.
 
Leadership, as people mentioned above comes in two flavours. Natural and official. These may be invested in the same person but also may not.

In football as in cricket, you need to define your culture and then you bestow official leadership on those who you most believe exemplify the culture you require so that others in the team are drawn to desired results.

This does not always translate into the most natural leader being given official position. A very good example is Shane Warne.
He is quite possibly the best cricketer never to captain australia and his success in the IPL shows that he would have won plenty for australia as captain. Additionally most players regarded him highly and his ability to motivate others is easily seen throughout his career.
However, when he was in the Aussie team there was so much off field drama that he was never going to exemplify the type of person others needed to aspire to be. He has changed since then, but, this, IMHO is why Ponting was given the captaincy over him. Though I believe that Ricky was an average captain surrounded by brilliance.
 
I wouldn't hold up the Ricky Ponting era as an example of good team governance. Pretty much everyone agrees that Cricket Australia made a huge mistake by not making Warne captain. Literally nobody cared about his off-field exploits, and Australia would not only have won more tests, but Warne would have played on for longer had he been captain.
 
Has Pav ever lost a coin toss? His win-loss record with the toss is amazing

I'm starting to think it's rigged though - McPharlin gave away the goose when he spent it before he'd earnt it. Only to 'win' it and select the same direction
 

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