Swans announce leadership group
Sydney Swans coach John Longmire today unveiled the Swans 2012 player leadership group, featuring new faces Ted Richards and Nick Smith.
Richards and Smith will join re-appointed co-captains Adam Goodes and Jarrad McVeigh, along with Jude Bolton, Ryan O’Keefe, Rhyce Shaw, Kieren Jack and Jarred Moore in the nine-player group.
Adam Goodes’ re-appointment will see him lead the Club for the fourth successive year, while McVeigh will continue as a co-captain following his appointment at the start of the 2011 season.
John Longmire said he was thrilled Goodes and McVeigh would lead the team again in 2012.
“We are really lucky to have two outstanding co-captains in Adam Goodes and Jarrad McVeigh, heading up a very strong group of leaders,” Longmire said.
“A lot of people have talked about the leadership and experience we have lost over the last few seasons, but it has been fantastic to see players like Nick Smith, Ted Richards and Kieren Jack take the step up as leaders of our group.
“Nick Smith is only 23 years of age, Kieren is 24 and Jarrad McVeigh is 26, so we have a great mix of youth amongst our leadership group, alongside some really experienced players,” Longmire said.
For Richards and Smith, it has been an unconventional rise to the leadership group.
Richards’ career began at Essendon in 2000, where he played 33 matches. He was traded to the Swans at end of the 2005 season. He played in the 2006 Grand Final and has played a total of 90 matches in the red and white.
Struggling with form, Richards was an emergency on nine occasions during 2010, but worked his way back into the side late in the year, cementing a spot in the Club’s two finals appearances and winning the Best Clubman award.
In 2011 he played all but one match.
Nick Smith was recruited to the Swans with pick 15 in the 2007 Rookie Draft and elevated to the senior team in 2008. Smith had a breakout year in 2011, shutting down some of the game’s most dangerous forwards. He missed just one match for the season and received the Dennis Carroll trophy for Most Improved Player.
