ANDREW Swallow has stepped down as North Melbourne captain after five seasons.
Swallow announced his resignation at North's best and fairest count on Friday night, with coach Brad Scott saying the club would go through "a really thorough process" before appointing a successor.
Vice-captain Jack Ziebell will be at short odds to replace Swallow next season, but Shaun Higgins, Jamie Macmillan and Robbie Tarrant are among the contenders with strong leadership claims.
"It's been an absolute honour to lead this football club for the last five years. It's a childhood dream to be able to walk out in front of 90,000 fans at the MCG as captain of the football club," Swallow told a gathering of 900 club faithful.
"But my time has come to step aside, to encourage the step generation of leaders to take over and to be there to support them and guide them.
"And one thing that I'm really excited about is being able to see these leaders really grow and develop. I think we're in absolutely terrific hands with some guys who have really taken some big strides forward.
"I couldn't be more thrilled to stand side by side with them and take this football club back to where we want to be."
Swallow took over the captaincy from Brent Harvey on the eve of the 2012 season and led the Roos in 102 games, the fourth longest reign of any North skipper.
Only Wayne Carey (184 games), Wayne Schimmelbusch (150) and Adam Simpson (110) have captained the club more often.
Swallow, 29, remains contracted at North for the next two seasons, with his decision continuing a recent tradition at Arden Street of captaincy succession plans.
In stepping down, the three-time best and fairest winner becomes the fourth consecutive North captain to hand over the leadership reins before retiring, following the lead set by Anthony Stevens, Adam Simpson and Brent Harvey.
Scott paid tribute to Swallow's stint as captain, saying he was an "exceptional leader" who had stood up where it counted most – on the field.
"When you look at your captain, he's the leader, he's the face of the club in a lot of ways, but where you want your captain to stand up is on field, particularly in big games, and he's a big-game player," Scott said.
"He's averaged 23 possessions in finals, including a finals-high 31 possessions against West Coast in 2012.
"He's a really inclusive leader, who's taken direction from lots of different people and he's led our team exceptionally well.
"We want Andrew to play a really significant role in the football club next year but (it was) a terrific selfless gesture to step down and look to blood the next captain.
"We'll now undertake a really thorough process to appoint our next captain."
Scott foreshadowed a leadership transition in January, saying he was a big believer in changing the leadership while the outgoing skipper was still playing.
Scott was not prepared to anoint Ziebell as Swallow's successor at that time but extolled his vice-captain's leadership qualities.
"What everyone sees is the on-field stuff and that speaks for itself, but what he has really developed, and is developing, is his off-field leadership," Scott said in January.
"And we've got a really extensive leadership development program that Jack's yet to complete and our players will have a really strong say in who they'd like to lead the club in 2016.
"But Jack would be an outstanding choice as captain, whether it's this year or into the future."
