On Field Leaders 2021

Kennel Master · Feb 18, 2021

Captain: Marcus Bontempelli. Obvious choice, natural leader.
Vice Captain : Mitch Wallis. Heart and soul Bulldog.

Great choices. Lead us to the Premiership boys.

KM

Pugz89 · Feb 18, 2021

The obvious call. Great reward for Mitch, he stuck fat with us despite offers from other clubs and has completely changed himself as a player. Love this so much!

Boyd oh Boyd · Feb 18, 2021

What do we think of getting rid of the leadership group? I was never a huge fan of the concept so I like the change.

Northernsoul74 · Feb 18, 2021

Boyd oh Boyd said:
What do we think of getting rid of the leadership group? I was never a huge fan of the concept so I like the change.

I like it but it’s different. I think every other club has one. I’d like to understand the rationale a bit more.

Boyd oh Boyd · Feb 18, 2021

Northernsoul74 said:
I like it but it’s different. I think every other club has one. I’d like to understand the rationale a bit more.

I think this was a good year to do it because there would be more confusion over leadership than every before. Hunter has been mentioned as an on-field captain many times and there's no doubt he'd a leader, but there's no way he'd be in the leadership group for at least another year. It'd just be odd to have someone like, I dunno, Smith as an official leader and Hunter not. Then you have Dunkley who's another leader but odds are he's gone in a year. Do you give him an official leadership title while doubting his commitment to the club? Players like Keath and Martin are older heads who can guide others, but haven't been at the club very long. JJ has been at the club for a while and they've put him in the leadership group a few times, but from the outside I don't really see him as a leader.

I like the emphasis on pushing the whole group to lead. When someone like Lipinski or Vandermeer feel it's their moment to pick up the responsibility they're impowered to do it, rather than relying on official leaders to make that decision.

fred cook · Feb 18, 2021

i loved his dad as captain and well done Mitch

Virgin Dog · Feb 18, 2021

Boyd oh Boyd said:
What do we think of getting rid of the leadership group? I was never a huge fan of the concept so I like the change.

Boyd oh Boyd said:
I think this was a good year to do it because there would be more confusion over leadership than every before. Hunter has been mentioned as an on-field captain many times and there's no doubt he'd a leader, but there's no way he'd be in the leadership group for at least another year. It'd just be odd to have someone like, I dunno, Smith as an official leader and Hunter not. Then you have Dunkley who's another leader but odds are he's gone in a year. Do you give him an official leadership title while doubting his commitment to the club? Players like Keath and Martin are older heads who can guide others, but haven't been at the club very long. JJ has been at the club for a while and they've put him in the leadership group a few times, but from the outside I don't really see him as a leader.

I like the emphasis on pushing the whole group to lead. When someone like Lipinski or Vandermeer feel it's their moment to pick up the responsibility they're impowered to do it, rather than relying on official leaders to make that decision.

Honestly I think you covered it really well here - so much uncertainty over who should and shouldn't be included, and there would always be controversy no matter what choice we made, so at the very least going a year without an official group is a great decision.

Guys like Daniel and Crozier are really starting to emerge as leaders at the club, and I'd expect both are in the frame for inclusion if we bring it back in 2022. For now, you could not have chosen two better leaders than Bont and Wallis. I was never a fan of Hunter as VC in the first place when Wallis was always such a great option

Roscoe_au · Feb 18, 2021

I think your captain and his deputy need to a. be really well respected on and off the ground and, b. represent the club professionally regardless of where they are.

Dont take that away from the onfield leaders. Every week you see the likes of Keith, Crozier, Hunter, Daniel pointing and barking orders. Just because they're not captain doesn't diminish their responsibility to make sure that everyone is accountable on the ground and everyone is playing their role.

I think clubs have (for a long time) lost that "figure head" and replaced them with something they already had on the field. Maybe its a generational thing in that these days everyone needs a go at leading???

Golden_6 · Feb 18, 2021

I don’t mind the no leadership group. We couldn’t give the titles to guys like Hunter & Dunkley due to their actions last year, but I’m sure they will feature prominently as leaders within the walls of the club this year.

Bont & Wally will be supported by the likes of Wood, Keath, Crozier, Caleb and a few others who I’m sure will stand up.

Anja_Nees · Feb 18, 2021

Wally was so obvious it was ridiculous.

Great outcome for him given where he was at even 18 months ago.

Norm De Guerre · Feb 18, 2021

Im glad that Wallace have proven me wrong (its not a difficult task) with the way he has re-invented himself as a permanent mid-sized and very effective forward.

I see his role as very much Tory Discksonesque from now on.

I like the compact traditional leadership group size. Anything else would've inevitably rewarded a couple of players for some less than inspiring leadership actions over the past 12 months.

They can now set about re-earning their stripes unencumbered by those actions.