From NINEMSN
Whatever reservations Nick Riewoldt had about assuming the St Kilda captaincy in 2005 were allayed by the 22-year-old's teammates, coaches and closest confidants in the off-season.
And so, after another summer of speculation over the candidates for the third skipper rotation at Moorabbin, that the favourite was officially installed on Friday.
Riewoldt, who was flanked by former captains Lenny Hayes (2004) and Aaron Hamill (2003), and the remaining members of the club's 2005 leadership group - Stephen Powell, Justin Koschitzke, Luke Ball and Max Hudghton - said his feelings of pride were matched by his sense of being supported.
"The leadership of the club isn't determined by one person
it's determined by the leadership group and the 40 players that make up the side," Riewoldt, who becomes the Saints' youngest captain in history, said.
"I'm obviously very honoured and humbled to be appointed to the position. It's obviously going to be a very exciting year for the club and basically I'm just rapt to be part of such an exciting, talented and, above all, selfless group of individuals that make up the footy club."
"I'm definitely under no illusion that the real success and outcome of our year for 2005 will be determined not by one individual, but by the whole side. Stemming from the leadership group here, down."
Riewoldt's appointment received unanimous support from the St Kilda board on Thursday, following the recommendation of the club's match committee.
Since making his debut in 2001, after being the no.1 national draft selection the year before, Riewoldt has emerged as a superstar of the game. He has won two best-and-fairest awards, was voted the competition's best young player in 2002 and finished seventh in the Brownlow Medal last year.
Riewoldt considers his relatively tender age neither an advantage nor disadvantage.
"It really only took a bit of confidence to be instilled in me from my teammates and coaches and people around my whose opinions I really care about that has made me feel very comfortable and excited about what lies in front of us," he said.
"I'm not going to go out of my way to change anything too much. I'm just going to try to encourage as much as possible. There are times when I can be a little bit quiet (on-field) so that might be one thing I have to try and lift up, definitely."
"I'm not going to try and copy someone exactly, I'm going to try and bring my own style."
Riewoldt nominated Brisbane's Michael Voss and former Kangaroo captain Wayne Carey as the AFL skippers he considered most inspirational. He also said he felt better prepared for his new role after living with 2004 St Kilda captain Hayes last year.
Saints coach Grant Thomas, the founder of the club's unorthodox rotational captaincy system, said that of all the candidates, Riewoldt was the one who would benefit most from taking the top leadership role this year.
"I think he's ready to do it. I think that he's shown that with his performance on field that he can easily handle the pressure of responsibility," Thomas said on Friday.
"He is an outstanding individual, he exhibits all the qualities that we expect in a leadership person
and we think that he's probably got the most to gain right here right now. I think he's got the right balance between what he can do and what he's able to do."
Thomas also defended the rotational captaincy policy, saying it was right for the Saints at this time.
"If you have a lot of people who are very interested in driving the bus rather than just being passengers you tend to get a better result. That's what we're trying to encourage here."
"The downside of what we're doing is that someone can't hold on to that. But having said that, it gives everyone an opportunity and we see the internal competitiveness
first hand. And that has a lot to do with the acceleration in the guys improvement," he said.
"Make no mistake, I'd be very surprised if Nick is actually in charge of this seven (in the leadership group)
these guys have equal saying in all issues."
Having come so close to a premiership berth last season - the Saints were narrowly beaten by eventual premiers Port Adelaide in a preliminary final - Riewoldt said the Saints were hungry for ultimate success in 2005.
"Our philosophies on last year were that pretty much we missed an opportunity and we don't want to let that happen again," he said.
"We've got a theme down at the club that we want to create our own history
which is effectively winning a premiership."
