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Stuart Maxfield has been chosen to succeed Paul Kelly as captain of the Sydney Swans.
Maxfield came to Sydney from Richmond for the 1996 season, and has played 149 games since joining the club.
Maxfield?s appointment was announced at a media conference at the Sydney Cricket Ground late on Tuesday morning. Paul Roos said the Sydney coaches' recommendation of Maxfield to the board was unanimously accepted.
"Certainly in my time at the Swans, firstly as a player then as a member of the coaching staff and more recently as senior coach, Stuart has continually displayed great leadership qualities, both on and off the field," Roos said.
"Last year Stuart had cause to assume the captaincy when Paul Kelly was injured and there is no doubting he relished the challenge."
"Then later in the year, when he was ruled out with a knee injury, Stuart worked closely with both the players and coaches and again showed a tremendous capacity for leadership," he said.
"With Kelly, Dunkley, Schwass and Lockett all retiring during the season there is a huge opportunity for this current group of players to firmly put their stamp on the club," Roos said.
"While Stuart has been named captain of the Football Club he, and the other players, fully understand that there is a shared responsibility to take this club forward."
Maxfield acknowledged that Paul Kelly's shoes will be hard to fill -
"It's a huge responsibility and I think there's no doubt that from time to time, obviously Paul being a close friend, I will call on him for some advice," said Maxfield. "I've certainly got faith in my own ability to lead the club well."
"Definitely it?s certainly something as a young fellow you dream about, being a player who has come from another club you sort of change your goals a little in terms of leadership," Maxfield added.
"Paul Kelly was one of the most inspiration leaders of all time so it really is a proud moment and a huge honour to lead this club in what I see is a new era at the Sydney Swans."
However, the Coach had already made it clear that the new skipper was not expected to try and emulate Kelly -
"We've already spoken to the captain and we've already said to him the last thing we want him to do is to try and be Paul Kelly. The reason we picked him is the values that he carries and we certainly don't expect him to be Paul Kelly. That would be the biggest mistake you could make." Roos said.
"We're not comparing him to Paul Kelly and hopefully other people don't compare him to Paul Kelly because not many people in 100 years of football have been favourably compared to Paul Kelly in football terms."
Roos added that thing the Swans had targeted in a captain was a good role model:
"Someone who trains hard. With a lot of young guys coming in, you want to get them off on the right foot and that's probably the priority for us a the moment. We wouldn't pick a captain that we didn't feel was going to lead by example on the field as well."
Maxfield came to Sydney from Richmond for the 1996 season, and has played 149 games since joining the club.
Maxfield?s appointment was announced at a media conference at the Sydney Cricket Ground late on Tuesday morning. Paul Roos said the Sydney coaches' recommendation of Maxfield to the board was unanimously accepted.
"Certainly in my time at the Swans, firstly as a player then as a member of the coaching staff and more recently as senior coach, Stuart has continually displayed great leadership qualities, both on and off the field," Roos said.
"Last year Stuart had cause to assume the captaincy when Paul Kelly was injured and there is no doubting he relished the challenge."
"Then later in the year, when he was ruled out with a knee injury, Stuart worked closely with both the players and coaches and again showed a tremendous capacity for leadership," he said.
"With Kelly, Dunkley, Schwass and Lockett all retiring during the season there is a huge opportunity for this current group of players to firmly put their stamp on the club," Roos said.
"While Stuart has been named captain of the Football Club he, and the other players, fully understand that there is a shared responsibility to take this club forward."
Maxfield acknowledged that Paul Kelly's shoes will be hard to fill -
"It's a huge responsibility and I think there's no doubt that from time to time, obviously Paul being a close friend, I will call on him for some advice," said Maxfield. "I've certainly got faith in my own ability to lead the club well."
"Definitely it?s certainly something as a young fellow you dream about, being a player who has come from another club you sort of change your goals a little in terms of leadership," Maxfield added.
"Paul Kelly was one of the most inspiration leaders of all time so it really is a proud moment and a huge honour to lead this club in what I see is a new era at the Sydney Swans."
However, the Coach had already made it clear that the new skipper was not expected to try and emulate Kelly -
"We've already spoken to the captain and we've already said to him the last thing we want him to do is to try and be Paul Kelly. The reason we picked him is the values that he carries and we certainly don't expect him to be Paul Kelly. That would be the biggest mistake you could make." Roos said.
"We're not comparing him to Paul Kelly and hopefully other people don't compare him to Paul Kelly because not many people in 100 years of football have been favourably compared to Paul Kelly in football terms."
Roos added that thing the Swans had targeted in a captain was a good role model:
"Someone who trains hard. With a lot of young guys coming in, you want to get them off on the right foot and that's probably the priority for us a the moment. We wouldn't pick a captain that we didn't feel was going to lead by example on the field as well."