RICHMOND captain Kane Johnson has been so impressed by his new deputies Chris Newman and Nathan Foley that he would happily hand the reigns to either of them.

Johnson said the recently appointed vice captains were both capable of stepping up to higher honours.

“Hopefully one of them will stand up in the next year or two and want to take over the club,” Johnson said.

“I think they’re both very good candidates and at this stage it’s probably level-pegging.”

But the 29-year-old said he did not know how long it would be before he would hand over the leadership. “I’ve got no idea, we’ll take it year by year at the moment and see what the club wants.”

Speaking at the AFL captains day, Johnson said the Tigers playing group was not affected by constant criticism and low expectations from outside the club.

“We try to read as little as possible because all that matters is what we’re saying internally and how we’re going about our business,” he said.

“That’s all we can concentrate on. If you can concentrate on the little things and get them right hopefully you can get the ball rolling.

“It does [frustrate me] at times but you can’t get caught up in it.”

Johnson said there had been no discussion about end-of-season ladder positions among the players.

“We haven’t really set any benchmarks other than wanting to win round one,” he said.

“We just want to go after Carlton and go from there. I don’t think you can set too many goals except internally and get your game plan right and your structures.”

Johnson said his housemate, recruit Trent Cotchin was taking the first steps towards his recovery from ankle surgery.

“He’s had a fairly wretched run,” Johnson said. “He’s been down a fair bit but he looks like he’s back running now and hopefully they can build him up and give him a pre-season and be back by round seven or eight.”