15 former TAC Cup players hold captaincy positions at 14 of the 18 AFL clubs for 2017, up from 13 players in 2016.
The new breed of ex-TAC Cup AFL skippers include:
- Essendon’s Dyson Heppell (ex-Gippsland Power – replacing Jobe Watson (ex-Sandringham Dragons));
- Gold Coast’s Tom Lynch (ex-Dandenong Stingrays – replacing Gary Ablett (ex-Geelong Falcons) alongside Steven May);
- Hawthorn’s Jarryd Roughead (ex-Gippsland Power – replacing Luke Hodge (ex-Falcons));
- Melbourne’s Jack Viney (ex-Oakleigh Chargers – new captain alongside Nathan Jones (ex-Stingrays));
- North Melbourne’s Jack Ziebell (ex-Murray Bushrangers – replacing Andrew Swallow);
- St Kilda’s Jarryn Geary (ex-Bendigo Pioneers – replacing Nick Riewoldt); and
- Sydney’s Josh Kennedy (ex-Dragons – replacing Kieren Jack and Jarrad McVeigh).
Brisbane’s Tom Rockliff and Fremantle’s David Mundy (both ex-Bushrangers) were those to be replaced as club captains by non-TAC Cup players over the off-season. Taylor Walker (Adelaide), Steven May (Gold Coast) and Shannon Hurn (West Coast) are the other AFL skippers not to have come through the TAC Cup system.
Gippsland now boasts four current AFL captains to have emerged from its ranks, with Heppell (pictured, second from left) and Roughead (pictured, second from right) joining Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood - pictured, far left) and Robert Murphy (Western Bulldogs - pictured, right) at the helm of clubs.
Bendigo (Geary and Geelong’s Joel Selwood), Dandenong (Lynch and Jones) and Oakleigh (Viney and Carlton’s Marc Murphy) have produced two current captains each, while Geelong (Port Adelaide’s Travis Boak), Murray (Ziebell), the Northern Knights (Richmond’s Trent Cotchin), Sandringham (Kennedy) and the Western Jets (GWS’ Callan Ward) have produced one apiece.
See the list of former TAC Cup players currently holding AFL captaincy positions below.
ADELAIDE: Taylor Walker
BRISBANE: Dayne Beams
CARLTON: Marc Murphy (Oakleigh Chargers, drafted 2005)
COLLINGWOOD: Scott Pendlebury (Gippsland Power, 2005)
ESSENDON: Dyson Heppell (Gippsland Power, 2010)
FREMANTLE: Nat Fyfe
GEELONG: Joel Selwood (Bendigo Pioneers, 2006)
GOLD COAST: Tom Lynch (Dandenong Stingrays, 2010) and Steven May
GWS: Callan Ward (Western Jets, 2007)
HAWTHORN: Jarryd Roughead (Gippsland Power, 2004)
MELBOURNE: Nathan Jones (Dandenong Stingrays, 2005) and Jack Viney (Oakleigh Chargers, 2012)
NORTH MELBOURNE: Jack Ziebell (Murray Bushrangers, 2008)
PORT ADELAIDE: Travis Boak (Geelong Falcons, 2006)
RICHMOND: Trent Cotchin (Northern Knights, 2007)
ST KILDA: Jarryn Geary (Bendigo Pioneers, 2007)
SYDNEY: Josh Kennedy (Sandringham Dragons, 2006)
WEST COAST: Shannon Hurn
WESTERN BULLDOGS: Robert Murphy (Gippsland Power, 1999)
Last Modified on 23/03/2017 23:54