Jarryd Roughead believes up to 12 Hawthorn teammates could replace him as captain in 2019
Hawthorn will hold an open leadership ballot to choose its third captain in four years with Jarryd Roughead confident a quarter of the club’s list could fill his void.
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Hawthorn will hold an open leadership ballot to choose its third captain in four years with Jarryd Roughead confident a quarter of the club’s list could fill his void.
Roughead, 31, stepped down as skipper last week after taking over from Luke Hodge as he returned from beating cancer in 2017.
Hawks players will read out their 5-4-3-2-1 votes in front of their teammates late in the pre-season.
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“That’s the good thing about it – when you’re voting you actually hear who you vote for,” Roughead said.
“If someone doesn’t vote for you then you can pick up on them and ask why not and get better from there as well.
“You could throw a blanket over probably 10 to be honest. With the leadership group (Isaac Smith, Liam Shiels, Ben Stratton and Jack Gunston) as well as the emerging leaders, you could name one of 10 I reckon.
“A captain in a sense is really just a bloke in the record that has a little (C) next to his name and flips the coin at the start of the game.
“When you’ve got 10 or 12 leaders throughout the whole organisation, that one bloke out the front just means he gets to flip the coin on the weekends.
“We’ve got we’ve got a lot of blokes who just say it how it is and pull blokes up when they need to.”
Roughead – entering his 15th pre-season, all under coach Alastair Clarkson – said he never contemplated switching clubs.
“There’s a lot of people that do go to other clubs and help out the kids at other clubs, like Hodgey and Lewy (Jordan Lewis) and even Mitch (Sam Mitchell).
“But for me at 31 to go to another club and try and build relationships and help their kids out, I’d rather finish my career here and have a fair bit of pride knowing I’ve helped out guys like Mitch Lewis and that who will hopefully wear the jumpers for years to come.
“I’ve only got one year left on a deal and conversations will be happening throughout the year with Wrighty and Clarko to see how we’re going.”
Roughead hoped relinquishing his official leadership position would help nudge his form upwards.
“It was highly spoken about last year, my form, and obviously you guys (media), that’s what you’re told to do and you take it onboard.
“Hopefully with the release of all the little things that go with it, it might help me out going into this year and being a little bit more free.”
But Roughead disputed he had a point to prove in 2019 – declaring: “I think my record speaks for itself”.
Roughead underwent ankle surgery at 6am the morning after teammate Tom Mitchell won the Brownlow Medal but was on the track at Xavier College.
“Tommy won and I had to fast to midnight,” he said.