Would you rather...

[Wild Bill]

Play in four premiership teams

or…

Be the captain of two premiership teams?

Simple question, what do you think you’d rather achieve?

All else being equal (personal achievements as a player etc)

This is a really bizarre question.
You do know 4 is more than 2?

 

[a_fighting_fury]

Would any of them be thought of less were they not captains?

From that list? I doubt it, all legendary captains.

 

[Stopher]

Nathan Buckley does not like this.

 

[Lensen]

From that list? I doubt it, all legendary captains.

All legends

That they were also captains doesn't mean that captaincy in footy as a whole is not overrated

 

[a_fighting_fury]

All legends

That they were also captains doesn't mean that captaincy in footy as a whole is not overrated

They were picked to captain because they had qualities that separated them from the rest. Ordinarily not anyone is elevated to captain.

 

[JUBJUB]

 

[Doss]

Play in four, without a shadow of a doubt.

 

[YeahNahYeahNah]

The honor is generally given to leaders.
Do you believe any of these captains are/were overrated?
Joel Selwood
Luke Hodge
Michael Voss
Wayne Carey
Chris Judd
James Hird
Leigh Matthews
Alex Jesaulenko
Royce Hart
Ron Barassi
Dick Reynolds
Jack Dyer
Syd Coventry

Great player. In the top two players of the last 10 years. But was he a great captain?

 

[a_fighting_fury]

Great player. In the top two players of the last 10 years. But was he a great captain?

Eagles premiership captain. Carried Carlton for almost 8 years. Not the best in that list but probably deserves to be there IMO.

 

[blitzer]

To make this into an interesting debate it should be like:

Would you rather have 4 premierships

or

Captain 3 premierships and win the norm smith in a losing Grand Final and win the brownlow that year.

Right now its way too favoured towards 4 premierships.

 

[a_fighting_fury]

To make this into an interesting debate it should be like:

Would you rather have 4 premierships

or

Captain 3 premierships and win the norm smith in a losing Grand Final and win the brownlow that year.

Right now its way too favoured towards 4 premierships.

Good point.
The OP is open to interpretation.
Here's what ran through my head, worse case scenario:
Would you rather be Robin Nahas with 4 premierships or Joel Selwood with two? Hence my decision.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Captain. Easily.

 

[TBoyleSuperstar]

4 flags would be better than just captaining 2. Whilst I'd love to be the captain of a winning flag, enjoying 4 would be much better

 

[Kram]

Captain. Easily.

Really? Apart from running out first, the coin toss and some extra media commitments and a big C next to their name the Captain really is just a figurehead. Most overrated thing in football.

 

[Righteo]

Captain. Easily.

Hipster. I chose that option too but my motivations were much purer, good old fashioned spite.

 

[Kram]

the difference between a coach and player would be a bit more interesting.

the guys who have done both consider coaching a premiership team to be more satisfying

As a hypothetical this is about 10 times more interesting.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Really? Apart from running out first, the coin toss and some extra media commitments and a big C next to their name the Captain really is just a figurehead. Most overrated thing in football.

Lifting that cup first though.

Bring that flag to Freo, Saints, Bullies, Dees, or Tiges with a goal after the siren... or win three with Carlton?

 

[The King!]

Why not Captain 4 & play in 7?

Greedy

 

[yyou]

Would any of them be thought of less were they not captains?

obviously Voss
awesome captain
great player, but not the best in the team

 

[yyou]

To make this into an interesting debate it should be like:

Would you rather have 4 premierships

or

Captain 3 premierships and win the norm smith in a losing Grand Final and win the brownlow that year.

Right now its way too favoured towards 4 premierships.

15 year old son went option 2, but I went option 1
for the record, I'd rather win a Norm Smith than a Brownlow

 

[estibador]

Any captain who would choose personal glory over an extra flag or two for their club is a terrible captain.

You could make that more thread specific too:

Anyone who chooses the captain glory option probably isn't the sort of person who would be chosen captain by a club anyway.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Greedy

Ron Barassi Captained 2 & played in 6 Premierships. As did Harry Collier.

Dick Reynolds Captained 4 & played in 4 Premierships. As did Syd Coventry.

John Nicholls, Michael Voss & Allan La Fontaine are triple premiership Captains....So if Hodge does it this year, then he'll be joining some pretty illustrious company.

 

[basashi]

Its a team game and the objective is team wins.

Everything else is noise.

Aussie rules captains don't do anything anyway.

 

[Tasfut]

Win 4 premierships of course, unless I was a spud that was the sub in a few of the grand finals and barely got a touch in the others. Then I'd rather win 2 as captain.

 

[South of the Yarra]

Why not split the difference and be Michael Voss? Captain a threepeat.

Be Syd Coventry and Captain 4 in a row.