PORT Adelaide forward Daniel Motlop believes his recent inclusion in the club's leadership group will help keep him on the straight and narrow in 2009.

Motlop, 26, has taken giant strides both on and off the field since arriving at Alberton at the end of 2005.

Last year he kicked a career-high 57 goals, finished third in the Power’s best and fairest count and was unlucky to miss out on All-Australian selection after being named in the initial 40-man squad.

And the self-confessed former larrikin was confident his new position in the team would help to improve his game even more.

"I sort of stuffed up a little bit when I first came across from North Melbourne and I’ve learned from that now," Motlop said on Friday.

"You don’t feel that good when you come late to training and that sort of stuff and it’s about being young [back then] and getting more experienced [now]. I’ve been here three years and I’m in the leadership group now, so things have changed.

"Getting put in the leadership group makes you become a better person and a lot more mature. You work with a lot of the older boys and try to do the right things like them.

"I’m still learning. I’m probably the least experienced in the group, but it makes me do the right things."

Motlop said it was a "privilege" to work with Shaun Burgoyne, Brendon Lade, Dom Cassisi, Steve Salopek, Dean Brogan and Chad and Kane Cornes in the eight-man leadership group.

But he said he had no plans to become the club’s second indigenous captain, after Brownlow Medallist Gavin Wanganeen held the role from 1997 to 2000.

"Just getting in the leadership group is probably good given where I’ve come from and I’ve never really thought about it (being a leader) before now," Motlop said.

"Gavin was my idol. I watched him at Essendon and when he moved to Port, I went across to support them too. Being captain of a club is obviously good, but I’m not here to try and captain anyone.

"It would be a privilege [to be captain] at this great club, but it’s not me. I’m not the type of bloke that is going to pull in the team and say, 'You’re playing badly' or anything like that."

Port Adelaide is likely to announce its captain in time for hit-outs with SANFL clubs Port Adelaide Magpies and Sturt on February 14.

Shaun Burgoyne, Chad Cornes and Kane Cornes are among the favourites to secure the top job, but Motlop told fans not to discount unassuming onballer Cassisi.

"Dom is not the flashy type like Shaun and Peter Burgoyne or a Chad Cornes," Motlop said. "He just does the little things that people on the outside don’t see but we see in here.

"All the players respect him for what he does. He does all the little chases and the tackles and that’s why he’s so well respected. He’d make a good captain of a club.

"People on the outside might not see it, but we see it and that’s what counts."