Michael Walters

[Bicco]

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.

Captaincy is important in team sport as the player chosen is a bench mark for all of the onfield and off field standards that the club expects. Having been lucky enough to be captain in both sports, I would agree that cricket captaincy is far more involved, it is no more important. A key aspect of a captain is their ability to perform at the same or even higher standard under pressure.
Michael is showing leadership on the track ( not much pressure there) but it will be interesting to see if he can take this onto the bigger stages, his performance in the GF suggests he will.
To say captaincy is meaningless or ceremonial is just wrong.
When the chips are down or the game needs to be won, players/ supporters look to the captain to lead the way and show that it can be done. Your reference to cricket highlights your inaccuracy as you're referring to tactical decisions made when fielding, but nothing screams 'great captain' more than a batting performance where an individual 'captains knock' is required. These batting performances have nothing to do with tactical nous, simply determination, skill and leadership. Captains are cool.

 

[E Shed]

the other side that hasn't really been mentioned is that when you are officially the captain it confers upon you a feeling of responsibility to go out of your way and give encouragement, take the time to have a word in someones ear or give a bit of advice at the right time. It has an effect to be recognised as a leader which can be beneficial to some and not so good to others if they aren't ready for the responsibility. Some people are better off just concentrating on their own game.

 

[pokerspiv]

but nothing screams 'great captain' more than a batting performance where an individual 'captains knock' is required. These batting performances have nothing to do with tactical nous, simply determination, skill and leadership. Captains are cool.

[/QUOTE]

Exactly my point, although you seem to keep missing it.

A great individual performance by any member of the team would inspire the rest in the same way. Whether they are the captain or not is irrelevant. People were not less inspired by Dermie playing with 3 broken ribs even though Michael Tuck was the captain. Warnie's ball of the century was not any less inspiring than it would have been if he was the captain. Donald Bradman was not made captain of Australia until well after the time when he was in his prime, yet he still managed to single-handedly turn Australia from easybeats into the most dominant team of all time without needing to be the captain to do it. Who is the captain is pretty meaningless in that sense.

 

[yoong]

I like how we sneakily turn this into a cricket thread without the mods knowing

To add to the discussion, my thought is that it'll have to work both ways. Just putting a captain badge on someone doesn't automatically make everyone look up to or respect him. On the other hand, not giving a natural leader a title limits the influences he can have with the team.

It's kind of like DT, any player can get up and score a ton, but if he is the captain you get double points!

 

[Bicco]

Two players you use as examples, Warne and Brereton are good ones and go to the point I made about setting standards both on and off the field and to the values of the club. Very few captains are d***kh**ds and are often unviversally admired for how they play the game. Warne wasn't captain of Australia because of his off field behaviour and while Brereton could win a game off his own boot, he could also miss 8 weeks after being suspended. Hardly someone you want setting standards. Captains are rolemodels and Sonson is looking like he is made of the right stuff, as do others in the team. Captains aren't just about moments of inspiration on the field. They can do that and more, which is why Brereton and Warnie weren't captain.
Also the fact that every sporting team in the world has a captain suggests that they have more importance than you might think.

 

[Freoval]

Son Son is one of my favourites and I was very disappointed to see him missing from the latest Freo calendar. Does anyone know how players are selected?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Harry Reems]

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

He won the coin toss in the GF and chose to kick into a very strong wind with the rain belting in from the same direction. I had my radio with me at the game and Tony Shaw was gobsmacked when Pav pointed towards the city end of the ground. Those that were at the game will know what I mean, as it wasn't noticeable at all on TV.

Hence our very poor first quarter with ball use.

 

[Dockernut]

He won the coin toss in the GF and chose to kick into a very strong wind with the rain belting in from the same direction. I had my radio with me at the game and Tony Shaw was gobsmacked when Pav pointed towards the city end of the ground. Those that were at the game will know what I mean, as it wasn't noticeable at all on TV.

Hence our very poor first quarter with ball use.

Kept thinking "we're going to come home with the wind, we're going to come home with the wind", all we needed was for Pearce's, Balla's and McPharlin's (should have been a shot) shots to sail through and it looks like a master stroke. Hawks were fading at the end there and were lucky to get away with a win IMO.

 

[13then7]

.[/quote]

Exactly my point, although you seem to keep missing it.

A great individual performance by any member of the team would inspire the rest in the same way. Whether they are the captain or not is irrelevant. People were not less inspired by Dermie playing with 3 broken ribs even though Michael Tuck was the captain. Warnie's ball of the century was not any less inspiring than it would have been if he was the captain. Donald Bradman was not made captain of Australia until well after the time when he was in his prime, yet he still managed to single-handedly turn Australia from easybeats into the most dominant team of all time without needing to be the captain to do it. Who is the captain is pretty meaningless in that sense.[/quote]

All good and well if players turned up once a week on game day. What about the other six days?