Give it to Gawn for one more year. Then let him enjoy his footy in the sunset of his career.

Lever reeks of a captain but his body can't be trusted.

Can't see Chandler getting it. All the 2025 AFL captains aside from Alex Pearce have an on field resume of achievements which Chandler does not at this point. If he could replicate his round 2 game V North, he'd be a seriously good footballer.

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Can't see Chandler getting it. All the 2025 AFL captains aside from Alex Pearce have an on field resume of achievements which Chandler does not at this point. If he could replicate his round 2 game V North, he'd be a seriously good footballer.

Sometimes if the best you can do is a Jarryn Geary level captain then that’s all you can do. At least Mihocek and Steele should give us leadership all on 3 lines.

I’m interested to see if the addition of Pickett allows Chandler to play as more of an attacking half forward as well as wing and on ball. If he can do that he can get 15-20 touches and have more impact

2 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Sometimes if the best you can do is a Jarryn Geary level captain then that’s all you can do. At least Mihocek and Steele should give us leadership all on 3 lines.

I’m interested to see if the addition of Pickett allows Chandler to play as more of an attacking half forward as well as wing and on ball. If he can do that he can get 15-20 touches and have more impact

ANB would have been a bloody brilliant captain if he stayed, what a loss.

I think Lindsay would go well, however my tip would be Rivers.

I'd be staggered if Maxy wasn't reappointed as captain for 2026. I think the point he's trying to make is that as a leader his job is to help setup the club for the next 10 years and thats ehat he is focussed on and not being captain.

Gus would have been an amazing captain. Cest la vie.

Max’s comments are what you would hope for, open to and welcoming of positive change. I’ll be keen to hear how open the club is about the selection process, and whether blokes like Steele in particular are rated within.

Let’s just give the captaincy to Bailey Humphrey. Make our intentions for next years trade period very clear.

9 hours ago, Dee in a Kilt said:

When Brad Green reported a key reason for Goodwin’s departure was that his voice no longer had the ears of the players

Woah.

Where did he say that?

Talk about captains wasn't Jones and Viney were co captains? As I remember whaen we got our a.ses kicked neither of them came out and criticized their fellow players for poor performance. Most like they looked at each other dumbfounded.

Dis(c)o

2 minutes ago, adonski said:

Dis(c)o

10 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

We’ve needed a new captain for 2 years, big dopey jokey has run his race.

But if there was a window to hand over to Viney that’s certainly gone now, especially with him missing all of preseason to date.

Same goes for Lever. Can’t trust his body or his form.

Perhaps there was a window for Tracc to be humble enough to accept the challenge in 2024.

Petty’s another whose career trajectory in 21 looked like he could captain a side by now. I actually think he’s given it a fair crack as a forward in terms of on field effort under duress, even if the body language wasn’t always good. He could captain the side if he found his best form at CHB.

A Gawn-Chandler co captain year and hope we’re better placed next year?

That’s rubbish, Viney was never captain material. Don’t get me wrong he leads by example but he is not polished enough off field.

As far as I’m concerned you can pry the captains role from Max’s cold, dead hands.

The answer surely lies within the leadership group. Who is last year's leadership group, and look to who is appointed this season? I have a lot of time for Rivers.Lever was until he started to get injured too often and of course Viney is still vice captain.

8 hours ago, Maldonboy38 said:

2026 - Gawn & Rivers co-captains.

Vice captains - Lever, Viney, Chandler and Turner.

2027 - Gawn steps aside, then Lever and Viney also step aside

Captain - Rivers. Vice-captains Chandler, Turner & one of Lindsay, Langford or JVR.

I don’t get the love for Rivers as a potential captain, needs to focus on becoming a better-than-ok footballer first.

The cupboard is bare

Bowey & Turner have potential, as does Lindsay, but they’re a way off

I’m actually surprised so many commenters here are saying Rivers or Chandler

Rivers has his positives and would look pretty in promo photos but still makes way too many flakey on-field decisions to be captain

Chandler may be respected by teammates but he’s not a top or even second tier player, leadership group maybe but captain, no

Max needs to remain as Captain until he retires, making a change would be King 1st blunder, we have had too much change losing our Norm Smith Trac through previous poo mgt blunders, let’s not continue the trend, we need stability not change for change sake

Edited Friday at 21:382 days by Demonsone

Max is a safe pair of hands and a great captain. In a transitionary phase the Dees need his stability. Definitely Max as captain in 2026.

6 hours ago, Demonsone said:

Max needs to remain as Captain until he retires, making a change would be King 1st blunder, we have had too much change losing our Norm Smith Trac through previous poo mgt blunders, let’s not continue the trend, we need stability not change for change sake

How would this be Kingy’s fault?

Or are you just getting in some preseason practice at blaming the coach for everything.

Gawn should hold the until the club don't want him captain. I doubt the playing group wouldn't want Gawn to captain the club. He's a terrific leader should be captain of the Vics.

22 hours ago, GawnOfTheDead said:

ANB would have been a bloody brilliant captain if he stayed, what a loss.

Yeah honestly if he and Brayshaw were still in the side it would basically be a coin flip between the two

1 hour ago, Temporarily Hopeful Demon said:

Yeah honestly if he and Brayshaw were still in the side it would basically be a coin flip between the two

Losing ANB and Gus is one of the factors in why we had to move on Oliver and Trac. You can cope with all sorts when you have strong leaders, but asking for trouble otherwise.

On 11/12/2025 at 21:53, John Crow Batty said:

For your info, Chin has played 23 games in each of the past 3 seasons. Is solid, dependable, injury free and internally highly regarded. Only Trent Rivers and Ed Langdon have played more games in the past 3 seasons.

I know he is a regular, but I don't rate him

Max is a hero for our premiership but he's not infallible nor above criticism. I admire his determination and wit, but I also want to offer a counterpoint argument...

He leads by example and often tries to carry the team himself, but there were plenty of games where that self-determined mindset didn't work for him or Petracca.

Sometimes what we needed instead was less selfless heroics and some smarter leadership on field, especially when we were lacking leadership through the coaching headset. Although we'll never really know what was going on internally, it's probably fair to say he was a bit too close to Goody.

He put across an affable public face in the turmoil of the last couple of years. It would not have been easy trying to be diplomatic amidst all that external criticism; the unhappiness in the group and the chaotic leadership void at the club.

Again we don't really know the machinations but the Clarry, Trac, ANB, Hunter, May and McVee stuff all happened with him as Captain and Goody's right hand man so they're blots on his legacy.

I wonder if he seems too relaxed and good humoured, or if he is too concerned with popularity amongst the players? Would a more serious Captain would have served us better through all that stuff? Maybe a different captain would not have put up with the slipping professional standards and stubborn negative coaching?

I know he tried helping Clarry like a foster parent and I'm sure the selfish Petracca stuff would have really cut him. It's hard to know if those two needed more stick than carrot; or more of the clip round the ear and kick up the [censored] than all the hugs and kindness and love.

On bring too nice; there are plenty of instances where I wouldn't mind him running through players trying to impede him getting to contests. I think that as a team we were too soft when Langdon got bullied; or when rats like Zorks or Maynard or Moore or Cox deserved to get put on their backsides or worse.

I think Max has enough respect in the league for him to speak out about rubbish umpiring and corrupt suspension decisions and appeals. I hate that we cop that stuff with niceness and humour.

I do suspect he lacks tactically. An example was the St Kilda loss where a better footy mind would have shut that down. We've seen plenty of other games where he said stuff like we needed to learn how to win. Some of what we needed was more accurate tap work and mostly it was better field and goal kicking.

Some of his own field kicking and his decision making around that is poor, cue the feedback from Maysie. His goal kicking is shoddy too and fades left which he should have fixed. He probably wouldn't tolerate that happening consistently in his golf game.

So in my opinion he led us adequately through a few hard and thankless years, but I'd welcome someone else if only there was an obvious candidate. I would like someone tough with footy smarts too.

In time Xavier Taylor will be a leader. Langford looks like another candidate. Steele could also be captain in the interim. In all likelihood Max will remain for this season.

Edited Saturday at 14:211 day by Hellfire Dub

Would’ve been Gus. & what an inspirational skipper he would’ve been

In the prime of his [censored] career [censored] hell man.

I think Max has earned the right to decide if he wants to continue on or not.

Without being inside the club and knowing what their expectations are of a captain we can only speculate in both sides have merit. Yes I first change with the new courage might benefit us by also we may need a little consistency with all the changes at the end of the day it's up to the playing group to decide what's best for the club.

Edited Saturday at 23:431 day by AzzKikA