Elite Player who is Captain vs Elite captain who is average

[VicParkTragic]

One thing I noticed today was an apparent lack of on field leadership. This got me thinking on the walk back to the car from the MCG today.
With Pendles we now have a captain who is an elite player. From what I can see so far I dont rate him as an elite captain. (Some might say he is ordinary but I'm saying he is not elite as a captain).
Our last captain (Maxwell) was an elite captain IMO but an average player.

I was wondering now with this team in this position, what is more important?

Hypothetically right now if we could have one only of Pendles or Maxwell in the team, who would you choose and why?
(assume Maxwell is in his career best form to compare)

[The Prototype]

I think right now we really need a leader, someone that can get through to these kids and isn't afraid to tell them they've messed up. We saw Maxwell do this and wasn't afraid to voice his concerns.

I like Pendles, do not get me wrong, but I think he's very quiet on the field and may not have the qualities needed to be a captain. Hopefully he can start to show more as a leader but I am not sure.

[thompsoc]

Pendles must be carrying some bad injury.
You can't go from a great to a hack like he has this year.
Something is wrong.

[AN_Inkling]

[Dave The Man]

[Jezza]

I think it's a bit more than Maxwell retiring as to why our performances have been poor Dave.

However, it shouldn't be forgotten that we were quite good in the first half of last year even though most of our victories were against bottom 10 sides, but something has gone wrong behind the scenes since our demoralising honourable losses that we endured around round 13 to 17 last year. I don't simply see our current issues as being relevant to this season's problem but rather last year's problems have spilled onto this season and are getting worse.

As I said last week, Pendles is a passive figure and I think he best demonstrates his leadership by typically leading by example and being a role model to other players about the standards that are expected of them. It's well-known that he's carrying an injury (rib injury) but it does make me wonder whether it's worth him playing through this injury every week even if presumably he goes through the short-term relief of painkillers, because at the moment he's struggling.

[Piesnchess]

I love Pendles, wonderful player, but i always felt Swan should have been made captain, he exudes Leadership, sort of a Millane type. I also think Pendles is playing injured, hes kind of lost his spark, like the whole team, at present.

[Mossi]

[VicParkTragic]

[Piesnchess]

^Maxy won us the 2010 flag with that wonderful saved goal and mark in last mins of the first GF, he definitely saved the premiership that day.

[MagpieMad]