Picked this up off the MS twitter feed....(and posted it in the 2018 team thread)
Our leadership group for 2018 is:
Jamie Buhrer
Sione Mata’utia
Nathan Ross
Mitch Barnett
Mitchell Pearce
Aidan Guerra
Shaun Kenny-Dowall
It would seem that Brown has continued to build on the Sydney Swans model and selected a leadership group, from which a captain would be appointed but that might also be rotated, etc. - I think the way it has established the player culture in the Swans has been a real positive, so I hope that translates into the Knights culture going forward.
I don’t think the captain would be rotated from that leadership group...for starters two of them are wingers (have to have a captain closer to the action).
From that list I think we can put a line through Ross, SKD and probably Barnett (he maybe could in the future though if he keeps improving).
Assuming the captain(s) come from the leadership group we’re looking at some kind of combination of Buhrer, Sione, Pearce and Guerra.
Buhrer
Pros: experience last year, tough and leads by example
Cons: could potentially get pushed from the side as more talents comes in but that’s not the case at this stage
Sione
Pros: leadership skills are well known, was sole captain at times last year and handled it really well, has probably been ear-marked for captain in the future anyway
Cons: still very young, is moving positions again and needs to focus on his game and already has too much to worry about with this and his concussions IMO
Pearce
Pros: main player maker, in the action, most experienced of all spine by far, he’s a good age where he’s not too young but not too old where we’d have to change again in a year or two
Cons: already has a lot of pressure on him moving clubs and being the only established player in the spine and will have to organise everything on field
Guerra
Pros: from that recent Fox Sports article it already seems like he’s being a huge leader at training, very professional/experienced from his time with Qld/Roosters
Cons: new to the club and I suppose risk of not performing his best here - potential for another Hokko situation although I hope not
I’d lean torwards Buhrer +/- Guerra because I think Sione and Pearce already have enough to worry about.