Agreed. There seems to be this assumption that a good player will automatically be a good captain, and that's patently not the case. We've been spoiled in recent times, not only was Farrell a good captain but he was a great player, able to turn a game on his own whilst also motivating the rest of the team. But often a good captain may not be the best player in the team, as leadership is a different skill from the normal playing skills.DaveO posted:They might be the only two left but he has given the captaincy to one and then the other and it hasn't worked in either case IMO.Fraggle posted:There aren't that many senior players left who played in the same team as Betts, are there? Rads, of course, and Newton but most of the rest are from the new generation. IIRC he retired at the end of the 2002 season and back then even Lockers was only getting the occasional game, he'd be seen as one of the senior players now.warriors posted:
The problem is with Betts. He hasn't had that much experiance, thrown in the deep end. The elder players might think that, why are we being told what to do by a person that was on the same team.
You're probably right that giving the captain's armband to a player he knows well from playing together might be another sign of Betts' naivity in running the team. It's the easy solution, rather than looking at the big picture. Rads always said the captaincy was not something he sought but would be proud to do the job if needed, so probably isn't going to upset by someone else taking charge, whilst Newton's going to know he's only the deputy boss now. On the pitch he's got some responsibility for directing the play from dummy-half anyway, but has he got the mental capacity to do that and also to direct the whole team as captain? (And that's not a criticism of him, I struggle to think of one thing at a time without having to do that as well as looking at the big picture).
Is this going to be possible mid-season, or are we looking at someone to make the best of what's left this year before a major revamp at the end of the season for a big push next year? I worry that people will be looking for a quick-fix solution to change things immediately but we've done that every year for the last several and we're no nearer a long-term consistent solution. I think I'd prefer someone to come in and have the time to do a big overhaul, even if that means we've got to wait until next year to see the real benefits of those changes.If a new coach came in I would hope he would re-assess the whole set up from the ground up, start with a clean sheet and appoint a new captain. This would be a lot easier to do if at the same time as the new coach arrived an established player and club captain were added to the squad such as this Fletcher chap we have been linked with.
We are not only leaderless off the pitch!
As soon as Faz left I thought Moran might be a good candidate for the captaincy, he did the job at London and showed there he's sometimes a bit more of an "individual" type of player like Faz. From his poor performances this year I guess we're not really playing in a manner that suits him so letting him dictate the game a bit more should work to his advantage. It'd be even better if we could get both Moran and Orr to work together and gell, but at the moment neither is really doing a good job so sorting out even one of them has to be an improvement.If we don't get a new player I'd give to Orr or Moran anyway in an attempt to get them to dictate the play more. If either of them were in charge I reckon they would play better than they are doing as they would be able to play more of their own type of game.
Perhaps if Newton's going to be out injured for a game or two it might be the opportunity to give Moran a chance?
