dannyboy wrote:
So have we great leaders?
Do we need them?
And how did we get in this predicament?
In Kouta we have an excellent leader. Perhaps not a great one, but certainly the best available.
Next in line must be Whitnall, Campo, Stevens, Waite and Thornton. If Kouta retired tomorrow our only real alternative would be Stevens, because while I am a strong supporter of Big Red, I do concede that his patchy form is a real worry - as is his stamina.
Campo too, is often harshly judged, but he has been a stalwart of this club and right now is battling with injury. I'm happy to have him as a deputy, but not as captain. My concern is that these days he can be tagged out of the game and his impulse to retaliate lets him down.
The positives for Stevo are his classic skills and coolness under pressure. The negatives are a perception that he is not yet a true Blue, and the as-yet unfulfilled expectation that one day he will totally dominate a game. In fairness to him he is playing in a poor football team, yet I'm sure he would blossom with the added responsibility of captaincy.
And that leaves Waite and Thornton. Put these two in the West Coast side and the football world would be raving. Luckily for us, we have them.
Forged in the furnace of hardship, tempered in the bitterness of defeat and despair, Bret and Jarrod are the future heart and soul of the Old Dark Navy Blues. Either or both of them will lead this greatest of all Clubs when we reclaim our heritage one September in the not too distant future.
Of this I am certain.