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Leading from the front

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Dale61 

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Joined: 17 Apr 2002
Location: /home/room/chair

PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 1:54 am
Post subject: Leading from the frontReply with quote

Seagulls’ new skipper has big shoes to fill.

Coach Brad Gotch faced two extremely tough decisions after Williamstown exited from the finals race in last year’s preliminary final.

First, the Seagulls coach needed to have a frank discussion with Brad Lloyd, the club’s highly decorated captain of the previous four seasons.

Gotch needed to ascertain how Lloyd, a veteran of 167 games, triple best and fairest winner and premiership captain, viewed his status heading into 2007.

While he was less than 10 matches away from the 175-game milestone that brings with it VFL life membership, Lloyd was also on the wrong side of 30 in a competition that is getting younger each year.

“I reckon ‘Lloydy’ could have scrounged another year, but I’m not sure whether that would have been right for him,” Gotch said.

“I think he got it that he and ‘Johnno’ (Brett Johnson) were pretty similar coming off a half forward flank.

“I told him if he desperately wanted to play, we would back him. Lloydy went away to assess it and decided to go out on a high.”

With that tough decision behind him, Gotch then had to find a new on-field leader. It came down to Brett Johnson and Steven Greene, who provided the quinella in the club’s best and fairest in their first season at Point Gellibrand.

Again, it proved an excruciating decision for Gotch. Both Johnson and Greene are fine players with considerable AFL experience, and both have genuine leadership qualities. Gotch mulled over the decision for some time before choosing Johnson.

“‘Greenie’ has some fantastic traits about him, but in the end we gave it to Johnno by a whisker,” Gotch said. “Johnno has taken it on beautifully. He is directive and encouraging, and has a great feel for the game and for people.”

Johnson, who played 70 AFL games with Hawthorn and Carlton, joins a list of legends such as Terry Wheeler, Barry Round, Tony Pastore, Saade Ghazi, Troy West and Lloyd to have captained the club in the past 20 years.
The new skipper is aware of the considerable shoes he has to fill.
“I really love the club,” he said.
“It has a proud history, and there have been some great captains over the years.”

While this is Johnson’s first time as captain at senior level, he has led Western Australia in the Teal Cup at Under-16 and Under-18 level. He said he was fortunate to have strong leadership support from Greene and Andrew Williams.

“I still have a lot of development to come in terms of my leadership, as I’m generally a pretty quiet sort of guy,” Johnson said. “But we have a good leadership group and a great group of young guys who are willing to learn and have a dip.”

http://vfl.footballvic.com.au/_content/document/00052419-src.pdf

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