That rotation will continue when we play Carlton on Saturday night with Adam Selwood taking the reins, and I’m certain he’ll also enjoy the opportunity to captain his club.
Darren Glass is such an outstanding leader, and has been for a number of years, so with him being out it’s a chance to see how our other senior leaders handle being the sole captain for a number of weeks.
It’s also good to see how the players around them react to that change.
Players like to be told what to do and where to go and they’re always looking for leadership, so giving these players an opportunity to be that person is wonderful for their development.
It’s a different type of pressure being the captain - you face the media a bit more, you face your peers a bit more, and you need to back up the things you say.
Beau is a very natural leader and his five-week period in a charge was a great experience for him. Matt is quietly spoken but he is definitely improving in that area and he is a superb on-field leader.
As well as the example you set on-field, leadership is also about giving constructive feedback to people that sometimes they don’t want to hear and Pridda’s taken a step up in that regard over his three weeks in charge.
He’s really improved his ability to deal with players when there might be something they need to improve or need to work on. It’s a fairly difficult thing to do that with your peers and your friends.
I think our group in general is starting to go that way and our leaders are learning through some of our programs run by Peter Worsfold that they can give feedback, and it can be fairly tough at times
What you’re trying to do though is create those open channels and build trust and feedback is always about helping players get better.
As far as his on-field performances go, I don’t necessarily think anything changed with how Matt went about his football while he was captain.
He’s developed into a player the rest of the group revere because of his professionalism and if you see someone in a leadership position giving their all and practicing what they preach, then the other players will follow.
Adam will be the third of our senior leaders to take on the captaincy and he’s certainly earned the right, through his actions and endeavors over time, to lead the side for a period.
He’s been around the traps and is a very strong-minded guy, so he goes about his business and leads in his way no matter who the captain is. I’m sure it’ll be the same Adam Selwood that captains the group on Saturday night.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
