NICK Riewoldt and his leadership group will aim to restore pride and "make a difference" to St Kilda this year after a spate of seasons marred by on and off-field disappointments.
Riewoldt was confirmed as the Saints' captain on Friday and will lead the team for the ninth season.
His leadership group will comprise Leigh Montagna, David Armitage, Sean Dempster, Jarryn Geary and Lenny Hayes.
There is no designated vice-captain with coach Alan Richardson explaining the group will "have a conversation" about who should fill the official role if Riewoldt is unavailable.
Riewoldt said it was a position he "had a lot of respect for" and wanted to use his re-appointment to make up for the Saints' fall from grace since they played in back-to-back Grand Finals in 2009-10.
"We want to make a difference as a leadership group," Riewoldt said.
"I think we've felt a little bit disappointed the last couple of seasons about our ability to do that so we need to continue to display strong behaviours, especially around the ones we hold important.
"That's what the group was voted in on, to continue to do that and defend the Saints' trademark that we've come up with, and on-field performance comes into that, and to really drive and accelerate the growth from underneath and within the footy club.
"We've got a pretty clear mandate, we've spoken about that as a group and I think the rest of the players are aware of what we want to get out of being in this role."
Hayes has been restored after being a member of the leadership development program for the past two years, helping to mentor the club's emerging leaders.
While he hadn't done too much differently when he didn't have an official title, the veteran was looking forward to contributing in what was likely his last season.
"As a team, we lost a bit of experience at the end of the season through trades and retirements, and going through the process with Leading Teams I guess my teammates were expecting a little bit more from me," Hayes told AFL.com.au.
"I was voted in and it's a responsibility I don't take lightly.
"I'm rapt to be in there. We just really want to drive the standards and earn a bit of respect back for the footy club and hopefully win some games along the way."
Defender James Gwilt is the only omission from last year's leadership group.
He played 13 games last year because of troubles with the knee he had reconstructed in 2011.
Last year's group also included Nick Dal Santo and Ben McEvoy, who have since moved on to other clubs.
The leadership structure under new coach Alan Richardson was unveiled on Friday at Brighton Beach ahead of the annual general meeting and Saturday's intra-club match.
Using the Leading Teams process, the players had to cast their votes in front of each other in what Geary described as a "transparent" model that gave everyone a say.
"It was a good process to go through because you could see what the players who you thought would get votes and didn't need to work on and the blokes who did get votes, they know the playing group has the confidence and trust in them to do their role every week," Geary told AFL.com.au.
"This is the first time I've been exposed to it and it's really good."
Richardson said while the club was rebuilding, the side that was picked each week would reflected a team "trying to win with some long-term strategy in mind" but emphasised all players would still need to earn their opportunities.
"They'll have to earn [games], against the trademark that these guys drive," Richardson said.
"If it is that we don't act the way a St Kilda player should act on and off the field, then the guys won't play – they'll have to earn their spot.
"There's no doubt that we've gone to the draft and we're really excited about the guys we've got in and they'll get opportunities when they earn them.
"But, these guys will have to steer the ship in many ways."
Riewoldt has always said he will captain the club as long as it wants him to, while Montagna expressed interest in the role last month.
Riewoldt first led the team in 2005 with Luke Ball taking over the following year.
Ross Lyon decided to appoint co-captains in 2007, with Riewoldt, Ball and Hayes sharing the role, before Riewoldt was appointed as sole skipper in 2008.
As captain, Riewoldt has been named All Australian twice (2008-09), won two best and fairests (2007, 2009) and taken the side to back-to-back Grand Finals.
He signed a contract extension that committed him to the club until the end of 2015 in December.
His reappointment means the 31-year-old is in pole position to overtake the club captaincy record of 177 games, held by Danny Frawley, trailing by just 17 matches.
Twitter: @AFL_JenPhelan
