With the season almost upon us many clubs have finalised or are in the process of finalising their captain and leadership groups for the upcoming season.

Who should skipper the Brisbane Lions?

The Brisbane Lions are one club still to make any formal announcement as to who will captain the club. Apparently there is still uncertainty surrounding Tom Rockliff’s tenure as captain. Should the Lions make a change?

The contenders

At the end of last season it seemed almost inevitable that Rockliff would hand over the reins. His two-year stint as captain has had its fair share of controversy and it was expected a change was a mere formality. But new coach Chris Fagan has been impressed with Rockliff and singled him out for praise last month.

“I’ve got to say, in regards to Tom, a lot was said about him last year. I wasn’t here at the club. I can only judge him on how I’ve found him since I’ve been here. He’s been fantastic around the group, he’s trained hard, he’s been a leader around the club and been very supportive of me in my first few months here.”

Last week on 3AW radio Mitch Cleary declared Dayne Beams was in the mix for the role. The 26 year-old is a class player and highly rated internally at the Lions. His priority however may be getting some continuity into his footy before taking on the pressure of captaincy. After all he only played 2 games in 2016 and 16 games in 2015.

Names such as Daniel Rich and Dayne Zorko have been touted as possibilities to skipper the Brisbane Lions. An option potentially out of left-field is Mitch Robinson. In the past a suggestion of the midfielder would have been scoffed at. Especially given his history of ill-discipline at Carlton.

But since arriving at the Lions the ex-Blue has turned his career around. He has been durable playing 42 games in 2 years, finished prominently in the Best & Fairest where he tied for the award in 2015 and finished 2nd in 2016. Having played 142 AFL games, the 27 year old is currently one of the most experienced players on the Lions list.

Change is inevitable

Given recent performance on and off the field change was always going to take place. This has included both the playing list and coaching staff. The most notable change was Chris Fagan taking over from Justin Leppitsch. New football boss David Noble has also joined the club from the Adelaide Crows. The Lions have continued to turn over the list and importantly off-field have secured a new sponsor for this season and beyond with brewer XXXX signing on for 3 years.

The turnaround in on-field results for Brisbane will likely take some time. Especially coming off a base of 3 wins in 2016. The captaincy position is another important decision the club has to get right. Leading teams have been drafted in to assist in the selection process. An official announcement on who the captain will be is expected in early March.

So who should skipper the Brisbane Lions? Have your say in the comments section.

by Liam Sheedy – contributor

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