Walker should be in the leadership group.

A betting man would get his money back if he placed a bet on Wiggins' not being on the list in 2008. Putting Wiggins in the leadership group might be a smart move to get the best out of him, but I'd still have Kade and Andy in ahead of Simon.

Was Prendergast in the leadership group last year?

AB is another player who should have been named in the leadership group ahead of Wiggins.

Prender & McGrath were both in the leadership group this time last year.

Lets all Chill Out
Bryce was invited into the leadership group to represent the first year players.
What a great idea. The club has identified future club leaders and asked them to represent their peer group.
This, to me, is cutting edge. Unfortunately if this was Essadumscum or Eddiewood we would be hailing it as revouutionary. Given our .last few years we are sceptical. Have a little faith.
Go blues

_________________
"I'll tell you what I didn't do;
I never injected anyone."
AD 3/3/14

We all have our favourite players and we all have our views as to what the Club could and should have done but I think we should get behind a player as Captain who has played 200 games, won a B&F and been a key player for us when needed. Not sure any other forwards in the competition have had to go back to help out a young and poor defence like Whitnall had to do.

Let's move on and up. We all know the appointment is for 2 years maximum - let's see how he goes before we rubbish him.

ps. Wiggins knockers - he had a far better year than Kennedy, Waite and Fisher in 2006 and showed real leadership abilities with his hard leading and real ability to fill in gaps up back if required. His attitude is a good addition to the Leadership Group. Doesn't mean he's a star - it means he has a great work and team ethic and is useful to our structure going forward.

I'm not looking for an arguement but if you read the first line you would realised I've read stuff here before my first post! "Long time reader. First time poster." Your response is interesting though...

A bit like your posts

Couldn't agree more. "Thumbs Up Emotion needed"!

A wonderful appointment.

Well done Lance, show them what you've got!

A Father-Son Captain has to be good for the culture of the whole football club.

Seriously! 11 in the leadership group????

I am generally the most positive, understanding, empathetic of Carlton supporters but this is just silly.
Firstly, it's indecisive. Secondly, where do we go from here? Do we continually add players to the leadership group as they lift their level or do you drop players from the leadership group, thus deflating them.

A leadership group should not be for anyone who puts their hand up or because they did something good or even ok. It should be a rare and privileged position. 11 official leaders is basically saying nothing more than if you are not in it, questions should be asked. There should be a maximum of 8 players in the leadership group.
We should have announced a captain (Whitnall), 2 vice-captains (Murphy & Stevens) & 5 others in the leadership group.

Gibbs may well deserve a spot - certainly sounds like a leader already but not for the reason - "to represent the 1st year players"....so now we have a player representing 3rd & 4th & 5th & 6th & 7th & 8th etc...
I noticed there was no-one to represent the Irish players. And there was no-one in their representing players drafted from Essendon*. Or the players over 200cm!

Ok, I feel a bit better now.
For the record, I think Lance is a good choice for captain - he is already the number 1 on-field leader, won the B&F last year & came 3rd the year before & played every game last year. And he has the respect of all footballers in the competition.

I will get behind all the leaders - just think it shows a lack of leadership in whoever made the decision to go with the whole team as leaders.

I dont agree with having such a large group.....is the club having a bit each way and dont have full faith in the captain?

Simpson, Murphy and Gibbs are good choices.....Simpson led on the park last season when some of the senior players didnt.

Would luv to know the thinking on why Walker was excluded and Scotland included...Scotland would be playing for the Bullants Rnd1 if I was head of the MC..Heath had a great last season and I dont have a problem with his football ability but his off field activities are not leadership material.
Andrew Walker has done nothing wrong and is a good role model for younger players the way he prepares himself...unless he didnt want the job I dont understandthe reasoning.

Bret Thornton wanted to leave and get a fresh start ...while I like Bret as a player and like his aggression I think you have to re-establish yourself as far as loyalty and commitment goes.

In 4 years I expect the leadership group to be Murphy, Gibbs, Kennedy, Simpson and Walker...

_________________
"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

I seriously don't see what the issue is with the size of the leadership group. For years we've been complaining about the lack of leadership at the club. Now when something is done about it, we're not happy with that either.

I think the group they have chosen represents a good cross-section of our list. It seems to me that they are asking these guys to take ownership of the club and it doesn't matter if you been here for 10 years or 6 months, they are all in it together. Together they will get this club back to where it belongs.

I think lack of confidence has been the missing ingredient for us over the past years.

If being in the leadership group gives the players the confidence, then let them have it.

While the list seems excessive, lets not bag it but support it and the players.

_________________
“It is a state of mind, a system of belief, a way of seeing the world, a deep faith that, because you are Carlton, you belong to something great.” - Mike Fitzpatrick articulating what Out of the Blue means.

Not sure personally how having Murphy and Simpson and certainly Gibbs are good choices. Gibbs hasn't played a game yet, in my opinion the move is ridiculous, I don't care how or who he captained in the u18s. Why don't we just put Grigg, Hampson etc and then next year's first pick into our leadership group? We are just being stupid with some of these decisions. Murphy too I would argue is a very premature decision, yes he admittedly does seem to exhibit leadership qualities but at the end of the day the kid has played 12 full games of AFL footy. I am convinced that we are making these decisions simply as part of an effort to promote a "new", "young" Carlton and to appease some supporters. Someone like Thornton who at least has been there for a while now definitely deserves it more than Murphy and Gibbs in my opinion...

_________________
Formerly Blues-Back2003.

I like the take ownership argument, slo-mo, but this can be done without making everyone a leader.
And declaring everyone a leader does not fix the problem of good leadership at the club. It can have the opposite effect.
If we do not have many good leaders (as was well publicised last week & pointed out by DP as well as several journalists & commentators) fine. Pick out the good ones and say to the others - THIS is what a good leader is. THIS is what we need you to be. THESE are the guys you should all be listening to & learning from.
If "average" is leadership material, then the leaders will be average.

Maybe I'm just too old school.

I like the idea of GIBBS! being made a part of the leadership group. Giving the first year players a representative is a great way for them to feel part of the bigger picture earlier IMO.

_________________
Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.

Well then why does it have to be Gibbs and not say Grigg or Hampson?

_________________
Formerly Blues-Back2003.

Maybe he has greater leadership skills, he also will be more likely to be playing in the seniors.

I can't see the objection to 11 leaders representing the various generations of players. Does anyone make anything of Lappo not being in it?

As for Lance, he is not the perfect captain, who have we got who would be in 07? Stevo wouldn't be captain in any other Carlton era either. He was rumoured to be carrying an injury in 06 but he was ordinary in a lot of games last year.

Lance was chosen by DP who some posters claim he doesn't get on with, by Ratts who played with him for many years and by Sticks who played with him and knows a bit about captaining AFL teams. Not sure if TD had a say, he also knows a bit about leadership. Could it be that they are better judges than us?

Until Murph and Gibbs have been around a few more years we won't have a stand out captain. But give Lance a go. People who know much more about him than us have given him the nod

I'm not a Wiggins knocker and I hoping he makes it more than any player on our list. I was impressed by Wiggins after readign AWG's excellent report on the Carlton function in Hobart which back up your comments. But AW, AB and Kade had better years last than Simon and the decision is as perplexing as putting Gibbs in ahead of these three players.

We can all get a bit excited on here at times...

The move to create an eleven person leadership group by the Club is unusual. But then again, our position is unusual too. We have a very small group of senior players, and arguably none of them have showed the skills necessary to be captain. We have a moderate group of middle aged players, and once again none of them have demanded the captaincy. Obviously our young players also need more skills and experience in order to lead the Club.

So, I don't see how it can hurt to throw together a bunch of guys from all of these groups and bestow leadership upon them. You never really know how good someone is until they have to lead the side. Look at Riewoldt... people thought he was a superstar, and then he had that dreadful year as captain. Being in the leadership group gives us a chance to see who thrives under the pressure, and who goes missing. So many questions:

will this turn Waite into a higher achieving footballer?
will this be the confidence boost Wiggins needs to become a permanenet member of the team?
will this make Scotland pull his head in and settle down?
will it give Kouta that extra motivation to get himself ready for his last season of football?
will this allow Gibbs and Murphy to grow in esteem as players of the Carlton football club?
from a mercenary position - will it make Gibbs more immune to approaches from the Crows in two years?

If another Club had have done this we would have applauded them. Instead, we sit back and start whining about lack of decision-making and too many egges in one basket, etc. Somewhere along the line many of us on here have lost our pride in the CFC - the pride that comes from knowing we do things best. Why should we look to Collingwood and Essendon* or the Crows for models? Why not create something for ourselves? The approach may not work - but is it worth trying? I think in the circumstances in which we find ourselves the answer is a definite yes!

Well they made the right choice.
It was out of Whitnal and Stevo
I would choose Lance anyday. Welldone.

p.s. Who ever was going on about Walker being Captain shouldn't post a message for a week. Walker didn't even make the leadership group.

Unless your inside the playing group you will never know who the leaders of the club are going to be. Obviously Marc and Gibbs are going to be outstanding leaders if they are already in the leadership group.

Go Blues, looks promising 07